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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



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N. 



A MEMORIAL, 



raft]^ EEminiscences, 



HISTORICAL, PERSONAL, AND CHARACTERISTIC, 



JOHN FARMER, A.M.. 

CORRESPONDING SECRETARY OF THE NEW-HAMPSHIRE 
HISTORICAL SOCIETY, 

MEMBER OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF NORTHERN ANTIQUARIES 
AT COPENHAGEN, ETC. 



BY 



JOHN Le BOSQUET. 



^^^^^^^s}^. 



BOSTON: 

CUPPLES, UPHAM, & CO., 

©Ill Corner bookstore. 

1884. 



e: \']5 

■5" 



Copyright, 1883, 
By JOHN Le BOSQUET. 



iFranhlin ^Srcss: 

RAND, AVERY, AND COMPANY, 
BOSTON. 



CONTENTS. 

1. PAGE 

Introductory 7 

II. 
Early Life lo 

III. 

Lyceum. — Letters. — III Health i8 

IV. 

Removal to Concord. — Personal Appearance ... 30 

V. 
Surroundings. — Interest in Young Men .... 36 

VI. 
Kindness. — Geniality 44 

VII. 
Journeys 49 



iv CONTENTS. 

^ ^i-^' PAGE 

Christian Character 56 

IX. 

Anti-Slavery. — Friendship 66 

X. 
Mode of Life 79 

XL 

Writing. — Industry 90 

XII. 
In a New Place 94 

XIII. 
Removals. — Letters loi 

XIV. 
Letters. — Anti-Slavery in 

XV. 

Labors. — Last Days 123 



XVI. 
Survey of Former Scenes 13 q 



MEMOIR. 



MEMOIR OF JOHN FARMER. 



INTRODUCTORY. 




.HE thought of preparing some notice of Dr. 
Farmer, such as is contained in this vol- 
ume, has been floating in the mind of the 
writer, like a stray cloud in the sky, for several years. 
But it has been suffered to remain without shape, 
and without effect, for the reason that other engage- 
ments have more urgently claimed his attention. 
And, to tell the truth, it did not occur to me, until 
long after my honored friend was dead, that I knew 
any thing concerning him that could be of interest 
to others. 

But more recently my attention has been drawn 
to the subject by his Excellency, the Hon. Charles 
H. Bell, Governor of New Hampshire, and president 
of the New-Hampshire Historical Society ; the re- 



8 MEMOIR OF JOHN FARMER. 

quest that some reminiscences of Dr. Farmer might 
be put in writing, for the use of the Historical Soci- 
ety, having first been made to Col. Harvey F. Courser 
of Nashua, N.H., v^rho was also one of those who were 
benefited by Dr. Farmer's friendship and instruc- 
tions. 

More than half a century has passed away since 
the period of my most intimate acquaintance with 
the noble man whom I have sought to honor ; and 
I have had no material to rely upon in reproducing 
this imperfect picture of his character, except mem- 
ory and a few letters. Therefore, I cannot flatter 
myself that the notes I have been able to get to- 
gether will meet the expectations of those who may 
be interested to know more of our great antiquarian 
student. 

Justice, however, requires me to add that I have 
turned to the brief memoir written by the Hon. 
Jacob B. Moore, for some way-marks which were 
necessary to the outline of the sketch I have pro- 
duced. 

I would also gratefully acknowledge the kindness 
of Mrs. Catherine Steele of Nashua, N.H., in furnish- 
ing me with some facts, and in putting into my hands 
the letters of Dr. Farmer, from which several extracts 
will be found in the following pages. 

My recollection of the circumstances narrated 



INTRO D UCTOR V. g 

may be somewhat inaccurate in a very few instances ; 
but with whatever of unintentional error there may 
be in it, and whatever of imperfection in its expres- 
sions of esteem, I dedicate this affectionate tribute, 
first to the memory of the man whose virtues have 
charmed me from youth to age ; then to the friends 
who remember him only to cherish his name as a 
sweet inspiration ; and finally to all who honor true 
excellence of character, intellectual refinement, and 
devotion to the increase of knowledge and happiness 
among mankind. 

J. L. B. 
SouTHviLLE, Mass. 




II. 

EARLY LIFE. 

^ioHE orrave closed over the mortal remains or 
John Farmer forty-five years ago. A bio- 
graphical notice, written by Hon. Jacob B. 
Moore, and published in "The American Quarterly 
Register" for February, 1839, narrates the principal 
events in the life of this distinguished man, and gives 
a highly satisfactory view of his character. 

But it is the privilege of eminent men to live when 
their bodies are no longer distinguishable from the 
dust, and all monumental records have been lost from 
sight. The memories and affections of the genera- 
tions that follow them are the temple in which their 
light is perpetually kept burning. And the impres- 
sion made upon the minds of survivors by their deeds 
and their virtues often produces the wish to know 
more of them than can be seen or written by an ordi- 
nary observer. 

We wish to know something of the inner workings 
of their minds ; something of how they did those 



EARLY LIFE. 1 1 

things that have made them historical ; and how they 
appeared when unbent and unrestrained, at work or 
at leisure, in the intimacies of actual life. Such a 
wish has been expressed by some, and may have been 
indulged by many, in reference to the subject of this 
sketch ; and it is for the purpose of gratifying it in 
some measure that these thoughts are given to the 
public. 

The writer will be obliged to speak of' his old friend 
as Dr. Farmer, in order to make these reminiscences 
seem natural, as he almost invariably heard him 
called by that name ; although it is believed that he 
preferred the simple title of Mr., and although he was 
usually addressed as John Farmer, Esq., by his corre- 
spondents, who knew him chiefly as a literary man. 
And to this mention of titles it may be added, that 
the honorary degree of Master of Arts was conferred 
upon him by Dartmouth College in 1822 ; and in 
1823 he was commissioned as a justice of the peace, 
— an office whose duties he never cared to perform. 

Dr. Farmer was born in Chelmsford, Mass., June 
12, 1789. With a curious genealogical instinct, he 
traced his lineage back to the days of the English 
king, Henry VII. His immigrant ancestor was 
Edward Farmer, who was among the earlier settlers 
of Billerica ; and his father was John Farmer of 
Chelmsford, a tiller of the soil, and a deacon of the 



12 MEMOIR OF JOHN FARMER. 

first church in that place. His mother was Lydia 
Richardson of Chelmsford, daughter of Josiah Rich- 
ardson, a descendant of Ezekiel Richardson, who 
came from England with Gov. Winthrop's company 
in 1630. The family removed to Lyndeborough, 
N.H., in 1803, and afterwards to Merrimac. 

Of Dr. Farmer's earlier years, no information is at 
hand, except that, when little more than a child, he 
attended school in his native town under the instruc- 
tion of Rev. Dr. Packard of Wiscasset. It will not be 
an unsuitable continuation of this narrative to intro- 
duce in this place a letter afterwards written to his 
mother (then a widow), containing a copy of one 
which he had written to Dr. Packard, together with 
Dr. Packard's answer to the same. It exhibits, in a 
strong light, his affection for his mother, and also 
his esteem for his former teacher. 

Amherst, Dec. 16, 1809. 

Kind Mother, — I have resumed my pen to convey to 
you some pleasing intelligence. Some time in the course 
of last fall, I meditated upon writing to the Rev. Mr. Pack- 
ard, to express to him my gratitude for the numerous favors 
which I received from him while "Attending his private 
school at Chelmsford. To have done this would have been 
highly proper and commendable ; but, being restrained by 
modesty, I neglected it till October, when I wrote to him 
a letter dated Oct. 24, 1809, which I deposited in the post- 
office Nov. 19, of which the following is a copy. 



EARLY LIFE. 1 3 

Amherst, N.H., Oct. 24, 1809. 

Reverend and dear Sir, — A profound respect for the 
distinguished favors which I received while under your tuition 
induces me to express my gratitude by writing. From your 
kind generosity I received several books, which had a happy 
tendency in improving my mind with those sentiments so neces- 
sary for youth, in order to regulate their future actions. The 
admonitions of the pulpit, and the admirable instructions im- 
parted to your pupils in your private school at Chelmsford, 
ever led me to cherish a fond remembrance and sincere respect 
for so worthy an instructor. It was first under your care (at 
the age of ten years) that I commenced the study of English 
grammar, and I have abundant reason to return my thanks for 
your kind and affectionate attention. About eighteen months 
after my father removed to Lyndeborough, I was put under 
the care of a merchant of this town, with whom I have resided 
ever since. I have enjoyed many advantages, but have never 
attended school until the last spring ; when, on account of the 
obstruction of business in the store, I commenced the study of 
the Latin language at the public school in this town, under the 
care of Mr. N. K. Clough, and have now arrived at the eighth 
book of Virgil's ^neid. It must be considered, however, that I 
have had to encounter the embarrassments resulting from study- 
ing in the store, and attending to the little business necessary 
to be transacted. These circumstances have deprived me of the 
privilege of devoting so much time to my studies as I could 
wish, and to them may be attributed the slow proficiency I 
have made. The object of my studying Latin is, not to prepare 
for a collegiate education, but merely to improve every oppor- 
tunity which may conduce to my future advantage. 

It may not be improper to relate something concerning my 



14 MEMOIR OF JOHN FARMER. 

father's family. They resided in Lyndeborough for the space 
of two years ; and in November, 1806, they removed to Merri- 
mack, N.H., where they continue to dwell, enjoying the conven- 
iences of life. My father often speaks of you with respect, and, 
no doubt, would join his respects with mine if present. My 
mother enjoys her health much better for years past than for- 
merly. My grandmother Richardson was well the last time 
I heard from Chelmsford, as were also my other friends and 
relations. I ought to apologize, reverend sir, for my presump- 
tion in thus writing, and beg you to consider it as an effusion 
of gratitude to one from whom I have received many pleasing 
counsels and instructions, which, being impressed on my mind 
in youth, I hope will never be effaced by time. 

Believe me, sir, to be, with the greatest deference and re- 
spect, your pupil and obedient servant, 

John Farmer. 
Rev. H. Packard. 

To his mother he continues, — 

After my return from Chelmsford, I visited the post- 
office, and the post-master presented me with a letter from 
the Rev. Mr. Packard. The following is a copy of it. It 
presents some of the choicest and most needful advice. 

WiSCASSET, Dec. 4, 1809. 

My young Friend, — I received your letter with emotions 
of joy and gratitude. I recollect with pleasure Deacon Far- 
mer's family, and, among other pupils, recognize you. If any 
of my friendly and religious counsels, or any books I put into 
your hand, made deep and lasting impressions upon your ten- 
der mind, you will join with me in giving praise and glory to 
God and the Redeemer. I can say of my pupils, as St. John 



EARLY LIFE. 1 5 

did of those he had converted to the Christian faith, " I have 
no greater joy than seeing them walking in the truth." You 
write like a young man of principle, of a regular and conscien- 
tious life. I hope you do effectually remember your Creator, and 
daily acknowledge and seek his favor. Virtuous youth leads on 
to stable and useful manhood, and manhood conducted upon 
right principles advances with regular and graceful steps to 
respectable and tranquil age. I entreat you, by the bonds of 
friendly regard, and by whatever is important in religion and 
solemn in eternity, to acquaint yourself with God at this inter- 
esting period of your life, and live in virtue ; that whatever 
occupation you follow, and wherever your lot may be cast, you 
may enjoy the favorable testimony of your own mind, and the 
esteem of the wise and good. Live in virtue, my young friend, 
that you may die in peace, rest in hope, and rise in glory. If 
you read the Scriptures with attention, and meditate on what 
you read, you will have a relish for moral and religious sub- 
jects and books, and seek regular society and virtuous friend- 
ships. My best wishes attend you, and I pray God to have 
you in his holy keeping. I am much pleased with the account 
you give me of your progress and industry. You have already 
found that every step in literary improvement facilitates those 
that follow. This is true of every part of a literary course, and 
I hope you will continue to enjoy the honors and pleasures of 
progress. If you have no idea of a college education, it might 
perhaps be as useful to you to make yourself more acquainted 
with branches which you have partially pursued, with geography 
and history. The constitutions of State governments, and that 
of our country, deserve the careful attention of youth. Some 
of your leisure hours may be profitably employed in tracing 
the origin and progress of the wars in the Eastern world ; the 



1 6 MEMOIR OF JOHN FARMER. 

calamities of which have already destroyed some of the fairest 

and best portions of that extensive continent, and the thunders 

of which roll upon the ocean. Just ideas of the various evils 

of war should be lodged in the breast of every young American. 

Do write me again, when you have opportunity, and express 

my friendly regards to your father's family. I am, my friend, 

grateful for your respectful notice. 

H. Packard. 

We can scarcely conceive of Dr. Farmer as ever 
having been a boy. At least, we feel compelled to 
place him with that small class of boys who are 
always men. He may have handled the base-ball 
club, and tried his skill at standing upon a pair of 
skates ; but he inherited a prevailing weakness of 
body, which, with his mild and amiable disposition, 
and the whole make-up of his mental and physical 
constitution, would seem to have placed a great dis- 
tance between him and the athlete, and rendered it 
impossible that there should be any roughness in his 
character. 

In 1805 he left his father's house, and went to 
Amherst, N.H. ; and that town was his home for about 
sixteen years, during the first five of which he was 
employed as clerk in the store of Nathan Kendall, 
Esq., by whom his love for books was greatly encour- 
aged and stimulated. Of the succeeding eleven years, 
the greater part was spent in teaching, — a vocation 
for which he possessed a peculiar aptness, and an 



EARLY LIFE. 



17 



equal degree of fondness. And, while he was teach- 
ing others, he never ceased to be a student himself. 

And it appears, that, during the latter part of this 
period, he decided upon preparing himself for the 
medical profession, and, with that end in view, placed 
himself under the instruction of the learned and 
skillful Matthias Spalding, M.D. ; but, after a time, 
he abandoned the undertaking, judging himself phys- 
ically disqualified for the hardships of a physician's 
life. 




III. 

LYCEUM. — LETTERS. — ILL HEALTH. 

UT there is more to be said of this portion 
of his Hfe. We cannot know how early 
he began to exhibit the bent of his mind 
towards those studies which so completely engrossed 
his energies in later years, and which made him prob- 
ably the most learned antiquary of his time. But it is 
evident, that, even in his boyhood, he evinced a taste 
for treasuring up the more curious and striking scraps 
of historical information. And during all the years 
of his clerkship, and while he was himself a scholar, 
as well as while he was teaching others, the powerful 
current of his devotion to the same study was wear- 
ing its channel broader and deeper within him. As 
early as 1813, his attainments had become known 
in Massachusetts, and he was elected a corresponding 
member of the Historical Society of that State. It 
was in 18 16 that his "Historical Sketch of Billerica" 
was pubhshed, probably the first town-history pub- 
lished in Massachusetts ; and his " History of Am- 
herst" was sent from the press in 1820. 



LETTERS. 19 

But his love for literary pursuits was manifested 
in another way. While he was yet busy with the 
various duties of the store, a society of the lyceum 
character was formed in Amherst, (one of the first of 
the kind in the State,) of which he became an active 
and leading member. His unflagging interest in the 
meetings (weekly) of this organization became inter- 
woven with the whole texture of his daily existence. 
After a time he was elected its secretary, and to his 
energetic support the society was largely indebted 
for its continuance and success. 

The following letter, written to his friend and cor- 
respondent Isaac Spalding, then young, gives some 
particulars in relation to the society referred to. 

Amherst, Sept. 13, 1817, 

Mr. Spalding, — Sir : I have the honor to inform you, 
that, at a late meeting of the Franklin Society, you were 
unanimously elected an immediate member of that institu- 
tion. The Franklin Society is an association of friends, 
moral in its institution, literary in its objects, and highly 
useful in its tendency. The members consist of three 
grades, — honorary, immediate, and probationary. The hon- 
orary members have no stated exercises to perform, but 
are allowed to make such remarks upon the performances 
of the other members as they conceive proper. They have 
liberty to be present or absent at all stated meetings, and 
have free access to the library forever, by paying six dollars 



20 MEMOIR OF JOHN FARMER. 

for its augmentation. The immediate members have ex- 
ercises in declamation, composition, and extemporaneous 
disputation. The probationary members are excluded from 
extemporaneous disputation, and from the liberty of voting. 
The two last grades of members pay upon their admission 
an initiatory fee of one dollar. Quarterly assessments have, 
for several years past, been remitted. The officers of the 
society consist of a president, vice-president, secretary, two 
censors, librarian, and library committee. The library 
contains between two and three hundred well-selected vol- 
umes. Quarterly meetings are on the third Wednesdays of 
March, June, September, and December. Please to return 
an answer before our next meeting, i yth inst. 
Respectfully, I am yours, etc., 

John Farmer, Secretary. 
Mr. Isaac Spalding. 

This society attracted the attention of prominent 
men in other towns ; and several clergymen became 
honorary members, and were interested in attending 
its meetings. The following is a list of the acting 
members, among whom will be noticed gentlemen 
who afterwards received distinguished honors from 
their fellow-citizens : Samuel Abbott, Herman Ab- 
bott, Abraham Andrews, Charles H. Atherton, John 
P. Batchelder, John- Burnham, Joseph Bell, William 
Claggett, Nathan K. Clough, Joseph Gushing, Elisha 
E. Elam, Caleb Emerson, Luther Farley, John 
Farmer, Allen Fisk, Benjamin F. French, William 



LETTERS. 21 

Gordon, Alonzo S. Grenville, Levi Hartshorn, Isaac 
Hill, Jacob Holmes, Joshua Holt, Eugene Hutchin- 
son, George Kimball, Joseph B. Manning, David M'G. 
Means, William F. Morrison, Harrison G. Otis, jun., 
Edmund Parker, James Perkins, Robert Read, David 
Secombe, Matthias Spalding, Gustavus Swan, Eben- 
ezer Taylor, Henry J. Tudor, Andrew Wallace. 

Before closing this description of his engagements 
while at Amherst, it ought to be mentioned, that, for 
some time, he was secretary of the Amherst Bible 
Society, always manifesting a deep interest in its 
work ; and also that while there he was made a mem- 
ber of the American Peace Society, to whose philan- 
thropic endeavors were given the sincerest sympa- 
thies of his heart. 

There is no record of whatever might have been 
the severity of Dr. Farmer's struggle with ill health, 
previous to the year 1818. In July of that year he 
left Amherst, and was absent, most of the time with 
friends at Billerica, for more than a year. We learn 
something in regard to his physical condition at this 
period, from letters written to his friend Spalding, 
portions of which are here inserted. 

Under date of Billerica, 28 July, 18 18, he writes, — 

" I regretted very much that in leaving Amherst I was 
not indulged with an opportunity of calling upon my friends, 
and particularly that I could not have an interview with you, 



22 MEMOIR OF JOHN FARMER. 

in order to request you to favor me with your communica- 
tions, and forward me those that might come directed to 
me. But, as I was deprived of such an interview, I can at 
this time request you to favor me with such intelHgence as 
you think will relieve the disquietude of ill health, and afford 
me a rational and substantial gratification. My coming to 
this place was rather unexpected. The proposition was 

made to me by Dr. C in the morning, acceded to in 

the afternoon, and actually put in operation the ensuing day. 
It was, however, a bold and hazardous undertaking, viewed 
in all its circumstances. But the goodness of that Being 
who hath hitherto supported me protected me. You will 
excuse me for not writing much at this time. If my strength 
improves, I shall probably make you the debtor in future. 
Respects to all. 

" I am respectfully your friend, " F." 

* 
He dates another letter — 

Sept. i, i8i8. 

My Friend, — Your kind and affectionate letter of the 
26th was received on the 29th. It contains an apology 
for delinquency, which, considering the number and magni^ 
tude of your avocations, I accept as satisfactory. Indeed, 
had your reasons for not writing been less plausible than 
those you have offered, my partiality towards you, which 
almost ever leads me to put a favorable construction upon 
your conduct, would not have permitted me to accuse you 
of want of affection and friendship. A charge of this kind 
would come with a very ill grace from one who is honored 



LETTERS. 23 

with being placed first on your " catalogue " of friends. To 
have such a conspicuous place in your affections deserves 
my warmest acknowledgments of gratitude. 

I find a disposition in your letters to ascribe motives and 
principles to me which I most sincerely wish had a stronger 
influence on my conduct, and were more firmly riveted to 
my mind. I beg you would forbear imputing to me any 
degree of goodness which 1 do not possess. Let it be your 
constant maxim in writing to me, " I had rather offend by 
telling the truth, than please with flattery." I consider this 
an important maxim, one which ought ever to influence 
our conduct when we write or converse with those we love 
and esteem. 

Again from Billerica, Sept. 18, same year, he 
writes, — 

"It is above two months since I came here ; and all this 
time I have been at one place, at Mr. William Rogers's, on 
the banks of the Concord, at the intersection of this river 
by the Middlesex Cknal. This situation is esteemed by 
many as the most pleasant and delightful in town. It has 
many advantages which no other situation possesses. There 
is considerable navigation on the canal this season. Boats 
loaded with wood, barrels, various kinds of timber, the 
Chelmsford granite, etc., are almost constantly passing, and 
all in plain view from the window where I am now sitting. 
The ' Middlesex Packet,' a very pleasant and handsome 
boat, passes here every day, having ladies and gentlemen 
on board. A conveyance to Boston in this way, at this 



24 MEMOIR OF JOHN FARMER. 

season of the year, is very pleasant, and subjects a person 
to little more inconvenience than sitting in his room." 

Nov. 9 he writes of a new affliction : — 

"The last month I have been very sick. First an attack 
of the cholera much reduced my strength ; then a violent 
cough and cold commenced, which kept me to the house 
for more than a month. I do not think I have at any time, 
since last spring, experienced more pain and distress for 
the same length of time. Thus, you see, I have continued 
calls for patience and submission, and am admonished of 
my own frailty and mortality. Happy are those in health 
who keep the great end of life in view, without these daily 
warnings and admonitions. I am a stranger to the sanc- 
tuary, where I once delighted to repair. I feel myself an 
exile from those I love and esteem ; and astonishing it is 
that I have such cheerfulness of spirits when separated from 
those whose benevolent offices will ever claim my gratitude 
and respect." 

Nov. 20, to the same he writes, — 

" I amused myself the other day in recollecting my cor- 
respondents since my first commerce with the world. I 
soon enumerated more than sixty from whom I have received 
letters, without including my female correspondents ; and the 
number of these you may rationally suppose is very limited. 
Among the number I have mentioned may be found gentle- 
men belonging to the three liberal professions, and some 
of them holding a very distinguished rank in the professions 



LETTERS. 25 

to which they belonged. These possess a variety of talents, 
and write with different degrees of accuracy and excellence. 
Some are distinguished by facihty of expression, some for 
strength of thought, some for vivacity and sprightHness of 
fancy, others for great variety of intelligence, and a few for 
the talent of compressing their ideas so as to give multum 
in parvo. I could not help forming in my imagination an 
epistolary thermometer, containing a scale of some of the 
most prominent and important qualities which make a fin- 
ished letter-writer. I admitted twelve qualities, which were 
all graduated on the scale from twenty degrees below minus, 
to twenty-two degrees above, which, for distinction's sake, I 
called the point of perfection." 

And he placed his friend Spalding at the highest 
point. 

May 19, 1 819, he speaks with evident pleasure of 
having received " the honor of a letter from Isaiah 
Thomas, LL.D., over the signature of the secretary 
of the American Antiquarian Society, in which I am 
informed that my name is recorded in the books of 
that society." 

Subsequent to the above date, he spends three or 
four months at Salem, making brief visits at one or 
two other places also. Under date of Salem, Sept. 20, 
1 8 19, he writes a letter — to Mr. Spalding — giving 
some account of a few of the noted characters of the 
place. From that letter the following extract is 
taken : — 



26 MEMOIR OF JOHN FARMER. 

"At the head of the medical profession is the highly 
esteemed Edward Augustus Holyoke, M.D., LL.D., the pre- 
ceptor of our Dr. Spalding. He was the son of Rev. 
Edward Holyoke, President of Harvard College, and was 
born in August, 1728. He was graduated at Harvard Col- 
lege in 1746, and is but third surviving in the catalogue. 
He was one of the first founders of the Massachusetts 
Medical Society, of which he was president for several 
years. I think he was one of the original associates of the 
American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and is now the 
president. His Alma Mater, a few years since, conferred 
upon him the honorary degree of LL.D., a distinction which 
has very seldom been conferred on physicians, but one to 
which his eminence in knowledge and science justly entitles 
him. Since I came here he has entered his ninety-second 
year, and a few days after attended the wedding visit of 
Judge White, where he spent the evening enlivening the 
company by his social powers, which excite astonishment in 
one of his age. He is still active in his profession. His 
corporeal powers are said to be as vigorous as they were 
twenty years ago, and his hearing is better. When called 
upon for any thing while sitting cross-legged, instead of cau- 
tiously and slowly raising the leg which is uppermost, and 
placing the foot upon the floor, he seems to give a bound 
like a youth, and is partly across the room before he recov- 
ers his erect posture. He does not fear in the winter-time 
to walk out upon the ice. If his foot slip, he can recover 
himself with the alacrity of youth. It is but a few years 
since he left off his skates. His dress is in the primitive 



LETTERS. 27 

Style. He wears a coat of light-colored cloth, with broad 
folds, a long waistcoat with pocket-flaps, and small-clothes. 
He wears a wig, dressed in the ancient style." 

From Salem he writes, Aug. 7, 18 19, — 

"I have had the pleasure of seeing the celebrated Joseph 
Lancaster, author of the Lancasterian system of education, — 
the one who passed such a compliment to Speaker Clay last 
winter. I have heard him converse in private, but have 
not heard his lectures, of which he has delivered three in 
this town ; at which he received the sums of forty-four dol- 
lars, forty-seven dollars, and twenty dollars, respectively, by 
the collections made for him. He is a large, fat man, forty- 
one years of age, — a man of wit, easy in his manners, free 
in conversation, and a Quaker. 

" I have had the honor of being introduced to the learned 
Dr. Bentley, esteemed by some as the greatest classical 
scholar in the United States. He certainly ranks among 
the first of our antiquaries, and the civil and ecclesiastical 
history of our country is perfectly familiar to him. His col- 
lection of antiquities, curiosities, etc., is immense. He has, 
I should think, four or five hundred portraits, of different 
nations of ancient and modern times. He has Homer and 
Virgil, Socrates and Plato, Horace and Ovid, Hippocrates 
and Democritus, Cicero and Demosthenes. Of the worthies 
of New England, he has Winthrop, Vane, Ludlow, Endicott, 
Sewall, Prince, Willard, Pemberton, Cotton Mather, Roger 
WilUams, Holyoke, etc., and among the rest the venerable 
Gen. Stark. I have called upon him several times, and 



28 - MEMOIR OF JOHN FARMER. 

always find something new. Inquiring for a book which he 
had not, he poUtely offered to introduce me to the Athenaeum, 
the largest collection in town. Accordingly he wrote a note 
to Hon. Nathaniel Bowditch, LL.D., of which I send you 
a copy. It has put my risibles in motion more than twenty 
times since I read it, which I had an opportunity to do, as 
I did not find Dr. Bowditch present. 

"' Mr. Bentley begs the favor of Dr. Bowditch to introduce 
Mr. John Farmer — author of the "Description of Billerica," 
a well-known antiquary and worthy man — into the Athenaeum, 
to consult Mather's " Magnalia " for some fact.' 

"You know that Salem is the old Naumkeag of the Indians, 
and is the oldest town in the old Colony of Massachusetts, 
and has almost completed two hundred years since its set- 
tlement. It has, therefore, many antiquities, which Mr. 
Bowditch has pointed out. But, alas ! many of them are too 
remote for me to visit. I am obliged to walk where I go, 
and my strength circumscribes me to narrow limits. I have 
no velocipede to convey me about. I can command no 
horse and chaise when inclination is favorable. But my 
friends are obliging. Mr. Palfrey, printer of 'The Essex 
Register,' called ihe other afternoon, and took me over town ; 
then to Danvers ; from thence to Wenham meeting-house, 
in going to which we passed the seat of that inflexible old 
Roman, Timothy Pickering, the man who has at last united 
both parties in his favor, and whom posterity will revere as 
one of the great men of our country. From Wenham we 
came through Beverly over Beverly Bridge into Salem, hav- 
ing had a most agreeable ride." 



AFFECTION FOR AMHERST. 



29 



He returned from Massachusetts to Amherst 
about the commencement of the year 1820. But this 
place was no longer his home. June 20, 1820, he 
wrote to Mr. Spalding from Concord (N.H.), saying 
that he was at the State House taking minutes of the 
proceedings of the Legislature. But he afterwards 
returned to Amherst, and did not finally cease to be 
a resident there until the early part of 1821. With 
what feelings he took his departure from the place 
where many of the most interesting scenes of his life 
had transpired may be judged from the following 
extract from one of his letters (May 19, 1819) : — 

" To the voice of friendship I am prompt at every call. 
I never hear it but with emotion ; and, when it is heard from 
a quarter where are laid the scenes of my early youth, the 
emotions are much stronger, and the impressions on my 
mind more permanent. There is no place the recollection 
of which is so strongly riveted to my mind as Amherst. 
There I enjoyed the society of those friends that with me 
grew when ' life was life, and all was young and fair.' That 
period of life when the imagination is most susceptible of 
those impressions which are seldom erased from the mind 
was spent at Amherst." 




IV. 

REMOVAL TO CONCORD. — PERSONAL APPEARANCE. 

»ARLY in 1 821, in the thirty-second year of 
his age, Dr. Farmer removed to Concord 
(N.H.), where he spent the remainder of his 
life ; the change of residence being made probably 
with a view to engaging in a light and remunerative 
mercantile business, and with the hope of finding at 
the capital of the State superior advantages for the 
pursuit of his favorite investigations. 

He now engaged in the sale of drugs and medicines 
in copartnership with Hon. Samuel Morrill, M.D., a 
congenial spirit, actively employed in the practice of 
the medical profession. This fastened upon him the 
title of Doctor. He had a thorough knowledge of 
chemistry and pharmacy, but the sale of medicine 
was no more than the by-play to the grander scene in 
which he was acting his part. 

Already he had performed half a lifetime of literary 
work. He had become accomplished as a student of 



REMOVAL TO CONCORD. 3 1 

academical and general knowledge, and had made 
himself eminent as a teacher; but still, the stronger 
inclination of his mind was towards history, and par- 
ticularly the history of New England. It amounted 
to an almost uncontrollable passion, which constrained 
him to make extraordinary exertions to become ac- 
quainted with the annals of his native State and of 
New England, even to the minutest particulars. And 
doubtless he regarded it as a fortunate circumstance, 
that those who first took up their abode upon these 
shores, as well as their descendants, were intelli- 
gent men, — men who were capable of recording the 
events of their own lives and times, and who saw the 
importance of doing it. So that, in the writings of 
the Bradfords, the Mathers, and the Hutchinsons, he 
found the means of gratifying the predominant desire 
of his heart. It is undoubtedly the fact, that he had 
obtained an acquaintance with the men and the events 
of the first two hundred years of New-England his- 
tory such as has been equalled by very few persons. 
Nor is it doing him any injustice to say that he was 
probably better acquainted with the characters of the 
men of former times — the Winthrops, the Endicotts, 
the Cottons, and the Chaunceys — than with those of 
the men of his own day. 

He had furnished articles for publication in the 
collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society, 



32 • MEMOIR OF JOHN FARMER. 

of which society he had been elected a member : he 
had assisted in preparing materials for a history of 
his native town of Chelmsford, published by Rev. Mr. 
Allen, and had published the history of Billerica, 
Mass., and of Amherst, N.H. And now he sat down 
in his unpretentious quarters, and put his pen in 
motion with an energy that no outside attraction 
could divert from its purpose. Attentive and urbane 
when interrupted by the call for root, ointment, or 
tincture, as soon as he found himself alone again his 
mind was in a labyrinth of genealogical names, dates, 
and events. 

In September of this year (1821) he writes of be- 
ing engaged in preparing a new Register of New 
Hampshire ; ''hoping," he says, "if we may not have 
a very valuable one, we shall have a correct one. I 
have written, to obtain the information I possess, 
nearly a hundred letters to different persons in and 
out of the State." Before the year closes he pub- 
lishes an " Ecclesiastical Register ; " in January, 1822, 
the " Military Guide " is in press ; and in February 
of the same year he is using his industrious pen in 
pubHshing, in connection with Hon. Jacob B. Moore, 
as a periodical, " Collections, Topographical, Histori- 
cal, and Biographical, relating principally to New 
Hampshire." 

The world saw so little of him, that, without impro- 



PERSONAL APPEARANCE. 33 

priety, he might have been called the invisible man ; 
and that because of no effort of his own to keep him- 
self out of sight. And yet he was just the man to 
attract attention ; there being in his appearance and 
employments precisely that slight shade of singularity, 
not to say mystery, which seems to fall crosswise upon 
the great majority of minds. Soon, however, he came 
to be spoken of as the accomplished scholar, and 
faultless gentleman, newly come to town. 

He was a man of an erect frame, about five feet 
eight or nine inches in height ; extremely thin and 
pale — evidently owing to some fault of the powers of 
digestion and assimilation, rather than to pulmonary 
disease. His face was symmetrical, but not without 
wrinkles ; with Grecian nose ; high forehead — that 
and the temples slightly marked with blue veins ; lips 
full, and expressive of mingled good-nature and firm 
decision ; a deep depression between the chin and 
the lower lip ; prominent and well-covered eyebrows ; 
light-brown hair, with a foretop brushed over from the 
forehead bearing a little to the left ; and bright, honest, 
medium-sized, bluish-gray eyes, that looked straight 
forward, turning neither to the right hand nor the 
left, nor often towards the ground. 

In dress, Dr. Farmer was neither fashionable nor 
slovenly. In the warmest days of summer, for an 
upper garment, he could trust himself to the protec- 



34 MEMOIR OF JOHN FARMER. 

tion of a flowing dressing-gown of calico ; but gen- 
erally he wore a coat of blue broadcloth with brass 
buttons, according to the custom of the day. His 
vest was commonly of the same material and color : 
whilst he could adorn himself, for an occasion, with 
one of buff or pure white ; although, as regards the 
color last mentioned, memory has become somewhat 
dimmed during more than half a century of busy 
life. His pantaloons, too, were sometimes of a lighter 
hue ; but the dark blue prevailed, — a happy circum- 
stance, as quite frequently an unfortunate spot on the 
right side was compelled to submit to a few smart 
strokes from the point of a refractory or untidy pen. 
About his neck he wore an ample white cravat neatly 
tied in front. Then, let the feet be covered with 
boots of calf-skin soft as morocco, and the head with 
a high, shining hat, and you have the whole costume 
of the man ; unless you examine his coat-pocket, 
where you would be sure to find a large red bandanna 
handkerchief, which was brought into service as a 
muffler for his neck if he went out, even for a moment, 
into the cold air. To form a figure of him with a low, 
soft hat shading his brow, with a face unshaven, or 
with his head hanging down, were an impossible bur- 
lesque of what he really was. 

When walking in the street, he invariably carried 
a cane, — one of light weight, of an uncertain red color. 



PERSONAL APPEARANCE. 35 

and with an ivory head, — which he swung rather than 
leaned upon ; for he seemed little dependent upon it 
for support. His heel struck the ground a notable 
distance of time before the rest of his foot got ready 
to come down : at least so it appeared ; for all that 
was ever heard was the fall of the heel of his boot, 
like the blow of a small mallet. That he was ever 
on horseback, is too much to believe. But he was no 
stooping or shambling walker. He carried himself 
well poised, took long steps, and his limbs seemed to 
ask no help in bearing him safely along. His walk 
was too stately for haste, and too assured to indicate 
infirmity. If in company with another person, he 
was always engaged in animated conversation. There 
was a bright cheerfulness in his whole aspect, as if 
every part of him were in sympathy with the beautiful 
day; such a day being the only time when he was 
likely to venture abroad. 




V. 

SURROUNDINGS. — INTEREST IN YOUNG MEN. 

|E cannot well portray the character of an 
individual without giving some description 
of the scenes by which he was surrounded 
while passing the years, and performing the work, of 
his life. On coming to Concord, Dr. Farmer did not 
find himself wholly among strangers ; but immediately 
on his arrival he sought the society of Gen. Joseph 
Low, a former Amherst acquaintance, who received 
him into his family as a boarder. In that family he 
enjoyed a quiet home for several years. And his 
place of business and of study (it bore the undignified 
name of "the apothecary- shop") was in a building 
which was the property of the same gentleman. 

That building was of two stories, about twenty-two 
feet in width, and forty in length. It stood on Main 
Street, east side, gable to the street, some fifty rods 
south of the State House, and was so situated that 
a person standing in the front door would look very 



SURROUNDINGS, 



17 



nearly straight through the middle of School Street. 
In the lower story was a dry-goods and grocery store; 
in the upper was the drug-store of Morrill & Farmer, 
the only establishment of the kind in what is now 
the flourishing city of Concord. It was entered by a 
flight of stairs, exterior to the building, on the south 
side. The visitor to the place having ascended these 
stairs, and opened the door at his left, found himself 
in a small entry, and, turning again to the left, entered 
the apartment, where he was sure to find Dr. Farmer 
sitting at his table with pen in hand. 

When the doctor first became an occupant of this 
apartment, it was only a corner room with one win- 
dow towards the street, and possibly two in the south 
side ; its dimensions being perhaps twelve by eighteen 
feet. But after a year or two it was enlarged so as to 
embrace the whole front end of the upper story of the 
building, to the depth of its previous length. Now, 
as you entered, and walked, into the centre of the 
room, with your face turned towards the north, you 
had on your right long rows of drawers, tier above 
tier, with a counter in front of them ; and on your 
left, lining the wall, bottles and jars innumerable, look- 
ing like Continental soldiers, some in uniform and 
some not, drawn up in line ready for battle. Near 
the middle of the room stood a plain box-stove ; and 
a little farther on, close against the counter, was the 



38 MEMOIR OF JOHN FARMER. 

table at which for several years the doctor's wonder- 
ful work of pen, ink, and brain was done. 

This building extended forward quite to the verge 
of the sidewalk ; and Gen. Low's dwelling-house stood 
north of it, broadside to the street, at a distance of 
some twenty-five feet in the rear of the sidewalk, 
where both house and store were joined together as 
one building. This gave the doctor an opportunity, 
by means of back stairs and back door, to enter the 
house without being seen from the street. Or he 
could, and often did in unfavorable weather, step 
through the window opening from the back store into 
the front room of the house. This was an arrange- 
ment exactly suited to his health and inclinations. 

Gen. Low was fully the peer of the best-bred gen- 
tlemen in town, his wife (a daughter of the venerable 
and excellent Nathaniel Abbott, Esq.) being well 
fitted to stand by his side in the most refined society. 
Their house was often the gathering-place of some 
of the most distinguished characters in the State, 
especially during the sessions of the Legislature. 
But Dr. Farmer seldom mingled with the company, 
even on the most brilliant occasions. If he did make 
his appearance, he soon withdrew, being unable to 
endure the excitement. 

Probably he had been led by bodily infirmity to 
prefer communion with books rather than with men, 



INTEREST IN YOUNG MEN. 



39 



and it seemed more agreeable to his temperament to 
hold converse with men long dead than with those of 
his own generation. And yet he was one of the 
most genial and companionable of men naturally. 
Much of the time his inability to endure excitement 
prevented him from attending public worship. At 
times, when he found his way to the house of God, 
he was not able to remain till the close of the service ; 
neither did he always have strength sufficient to urge 
his way through the crowd to deposit his vote in the 
ballot-box, although he felt a deep interest in the 
political questions of the day. 

A trait of character that marked Dr. Farmer's 
whole life was his love for the society of young men, 
together with an earnest devotion to their welfare. 
During his residence in Amherst, this tendency of 
his mind was a prominent characteristic ; and, after 
his removal to Concord, it continued in full activity, 
manifesting itself in a benevolent and fatherly in- 
terest in the young men around him, — a very con- 
siderable number of whom came under his tuition 
at different times. 

It became well understood that the pleasure he 
enjoyed in imparting instruction was quite equal to 
that of treasuring it up ; and young men of a stu- 
dious turn, many of whom were connected with the 
printing-offices, felt no hesitancy in calling at his 



40 MEMOIR OF JOHN FARMER. 

room. And all who came within the sphere of his 
influence were greatly benefited. Even the man 
whom he might employ to perform an act of service 
generally received the compensation of some valua- 
ble hint, or piece of advice, as well as his due reward 
in money. The young man once in his presence, he 
would with delicacy and tact make inquiries as to his 
attainments ; would recommend books ; advise' him 
to cultivate a love for reading ; and endeavor to 
stimulate him to the formation of studious, virtuous, 
thrifty, and manly habits. More than one now living 
(and the same has been the case with as many who 
are dead) feels himself greatly indebted for his genial 
and generous attentions, much of their success in 
life having been due to his instructions and guidance. 
Though retiring and undemonstrative during life, 
doing his work behind the scenes of the world's 
pomp and din, yet he did much to give character and 
life to those scenes. He made his power felt in 
forms that cannot be lost sight of for generations to 
come. He wished to exert a salutary influence over 
those whom he knew to be exposed to many temp- 
tations. He saw in every young man a possible can- 
didate for some important position, for experiences 
either joyous or painful, for achievements elevating 
or degrading to the human species. He would give 
the weight of his testimony and his example in the 
way most likely to benefit all. 



INTEREST IN YOUNG MEN. 41 

It was a true exhibition of Dr. Farmer's unselfish 
and fatherly disposition which was seen in the case 
of the first young person whom he drew into his con- 
fidence and guardianship after becoming a resident 
of Concord. A small part of the history of this case 
must be given, in order to explain how a knowledge 
of the minute particulars narrated in these pages was 
obtained. Allusion is made to a . schoolboy not 
twelve years old, of parentage reputable but not rich, 
his father a tin-plate and sheet-iron worker, living in 
the neighborhood. 

One evening about the close of the year 1822, he 
was sent, with a quill in his hand, to the merchant 
doing business directly beneath the apothecary-shop, 
to ask the favor of the making of a pen ; those being 
days when pens of steel were little known, and those 
in use grew upon the backs of geese and swans ; and 
the making of a pen was an art in which experts alone 
excelled. The merchant was busy, and said, '' Run 
up to Dr. Farmer : he will do it." In a moment the 
boy was round the corner, up the stairs, and in the 
presence of the doctor. He was greeted with a kind 
word, and as kind a smile. The doctor's penknife 
was always in order. Taking the quill, he shaved off 
about half the depth of the tubular part at the lower 
end, inner side ; fashioned the nib in approved form ; 
exactly divided the point, and cut it off ; then slipped 



42 MEMOIR OF JOHN FARMER. 

the knife along the nigh side of the shaft, clearing off 
the web, and clipped it near the upper extremity, — 
and the work was done, with an accuracy and despatch 
which the nicest machinery could scarcely have 
equalled ; the boy looking on with eyes glistening 
with admiration, it being to him the neatest of sleight- 
of-hand. " Now write your name on that piece of 
paper, and see if you like it," said the doctor, passing 
both pen and paper to the boy. The boy made some 
scratches meant for his name : and the compliment 
was returned, " You write pretty well ; wouldn't you 
like to learn to write better ? " The boy answered 
that he would ; when his new-found friend continued, 
" If you will come in here Saturday afternoon, I will 
teach you ; " that being the only half-day of the week 
in which scholars in those days had their liberty. 

The boy promised, and was there punctually at the 
hour. The writing-lesson despatched, he was invited 
to take a little exercise at the mortar, pulverizing 
medicine. And, when the business of the afternoon 
was accomplished, he went away with an invitation 
to a similar entertainment the next Saturday. And 
things went on after the same order, — a lesson with 
the pestle following the lesson with the pen, — un- 
til the close of the winter term of the public school. 
The boy had become highly pleased already with his 
apothecary teacher, and the teacher had evidently 



INTEREST IN YOUNG MEN. 43 

found a place in his heart for the boy. And now the 
favored lad, who had no other employment, was regu- 
larly instated as a student and an employee of the 
scholarly and honored John Farmer, Esq. And the 
acquaintance thus casually commenced became more- 
and more intimate for many years, and was inter- 
rupted only by the death of the great and good man 
who so generously bestowed his friendship upon one 
by whom it was needed, and by whom it was never 
felt to be of greater value than now when the snows 
of age have fallen upon his head. 



VI. 

KINDNESS. — GENIALITY. 

o/i^ r^^oHIS lad was under the eye of Dr. Farmer a 




large portion of the time for the space of 
three years ; the succeeding three years of 
his youth being spent in a printing-office in another 
place, — a fact that will explain some allusions occur- 
ring in one or two of Dr. Farmer's letters hereafter 
to be inserted. He was employed in pounding and 
compounding medicine, weighing and measuring it, 
putting it into packages, and selling it ; in making 
pills, opodeldoc, blue mass, cold cream for pimpled 
cheeks (with the cream left out), and ointments many 
and not always sweet savored ; and once he assisted 
in the nice little process of distilling prussic-acid ; 
and, when the doctor was absent or sick, he was in- 
trusted with the keeping of his meteorological record. 
And, during the same time, he was led on in a course 
of study, embracing the common-school branches, with 
history, science, and composition, and was constantly 



KINDNESS. — GENIALITY. 45 

receiving practical hints from the doctor's lips, con- 
cerning passing events and all the interests of life, 
together with moral instruction of inestimable value. 
Besides, he had something of the rudiments of Latin 
continually before him, and fastening themselves upon 
his mind, — in the names of medicines, and in various 
books and papers which the doctor had in his hands 
every day, — which gave him a start in that direction. 
And not only did he enjoy the company and instruc- 
tion of the good man during the day, but for long 
periods, especially in the colder portions of the year, 
he shared his bed at night. 

With the scholarly genius about him, any lad might 
have emerged from such a school with a very respect- 
able education. Though often heedless and inatten- 
tive; doing, or leaving undone, things that must have 
tried the patience of his benefactor, — yet he never 
heard an unkind expression from his lips, nor saw a 
trace of passion upon his countenance. No, never 
from those lips fell a single syllable borrowed from 
the vocabulary of the profane or the vulgar, to the 
knowledge of this person, who for so long a time had 
opportunity for almost seeing the thoughts by which 
those lips were inspired. 

And, when this lad had left the place, still his old 
teacher remembered him as if he had been a son, and 
followed him with letters filled with good advice and 



46 MEMOIR OF JOHN FARMER. 

affectionate assurances of deep interest in his welfare ; 
the last letter received from him being dated only a 
little more than a year previous to his death. 

Besides, the kind-hearted and thoughtful doctor 
studied to keep the mind of his protege employed 
with reading when no other occupation demanded 
his attention. He evidently believed the sentiment 
of the old nursery-hymn, citing the example of the 
bee: — 

*' In works of labor or of skill, 
I would be busy too ; 
For Satan finds some mischief still, 
For idle hands to do." 

He recommended books (and generally furnished 
them), some of which were solid octavos, like Scott's 
" Life of Napoleon," then recently published ; and some 
smaller volumes, such as the "Letters of Junius;" and 
others of a lighter and more engaging character, as 
"Coelebs in Search of a Wife," — he being careful to 
tell him that ccelebs meant bachelor, — and "Gulliver's 
Travels." And frequently, during the reading of the 
book last named, when the lad's mouth began to widen, 
with the corners turned upward, and a giggle seemed 
imminent, he would say, ** You may read aloud ; " and 
quite likely he would himself join in the laugh. It 
was, however, no open explosion. Of the broad, 
crashing laugh of the bar-room, or even that of the 



KINDNESS. — GENIALITY. 4/ 

boy on the playground, he appeared utterly incapable. 
With some effort he kept the lips pretty well com- 
pressed, and seemed to be confining within his agi- 
tated breast a pleasant-voiced animal that had serious 
thoughts of making his escape. 

He was not a story-teller, but it was impossible for 
a man of his knowledge of books and the world not 
to have in his mind an inexhaustible store of enter- 
taining facts ; and he could appreciate the ludicrous 
and trenchant points of an anecdote as well as any 
other man. Nor did he ever lack the ability to tell 
what he knew in an effective manner. And he knew 
how to mingle amusement with the more wearisome 
occupations of life. 

When the time began to pass drowsily in the 
" shop," he would frequently tell a story, — such as 
that of Benjamin Franklin's visit, when a printer's 
boy, to the Rev. Dr. Byles, the witty clergyman of 
Boston. The story was something like this : When 
the boy had done his errand, the reverend doctor, 
who had some kindness of heart, put himself on quite 
familiar terms with him, and in the course of the con- 
versation learned, that, in the office where he was em- 
ployed, he was called the "devil;" "printer's devil" 
being the name in former times given (probably more 
commonly than at present) to the youngest appren- 
tice, whose duty it was to perform the miscellaneous 



48 MEMOIR OF JOHN FARMER. 

services, or chores, about the office. Continuing his 
attentions, the reverend gentleman invited the boy up 
into the highest part of the house, that he might look 
out upon the town. But, the boy not being tall 
enough to see to advantage, the doctor lifted him up 
by the arms ; and, when he helped him down, he said, 
" Now go home, and tell your people that / have 
raised the devil!' It is needless to state, that, by the 
time such a story about a Boston boy was at an end, 
the Concord boy was fully awake. 

At other times he would describe the hallucina- 
tions of persons diseased in mind, some of which 
were of an exceedingly mirth-provoking character. 
One of these was in relation to a man who imagined 
that his legs were made of glass, and who drew upon 
himself a good deal of ridicule, and some pity, by his 
intense fear of their being broken in pieces by any 
attempt to walk, or by being touched by any other 
person. Then, again, he would amuse and instruct 
his pupil with descriptions or examples of chemical 
and magnetic processes ; the formation of the Arbor 
Saturni being one of his most gratifying experiments. 
A glass jar was filled with a solution of acetate of 
lead ; in it was suspended a piece of zinc a few 
inches in length ; and, when it had been set aside 
a few hours, there appeared a well-formed tree, top 
downwards, having the zinc for its trunk, with the 
branches proceeding from it. 




VIL 

JOURNEYS. 

MONG Dr. Farmer's earlier acquaintances 
^ in Concord was Jacob B. Moore, Esq. He 
St was a printer, book-publisher, bookseller, 
newspaper editor, and an author, and was a man of 
talent, mental cultivation, and great industry and en- 
durance. He had the physical power for a more stir- 
ring and out-of-door life, while the doctor was doing 
his work in almost entire seclusion. The closest inti- 
macy subsisted between these friends, until the more 
feeble of the two was taken away by death. They 
were associated in the preparation and publication of 
several volumes pertaining to the history of New 
Hampshire, but the most important enterprise in 
which they were mutually engaged was the publica- 
tion of " The New-Hampshire Gazetteer." It was a 
work requiring a vast amount of laborious research, 
the writing of letters almost innumerable, and the 
exercise of much care and judgment. During the 



50 MEMOIR OF JOHN FARMER. 

preparation of it for the press, Mr. Moore was often 
in the doctor's place of business. When together, 
the doctor would read what he had written, and Mr. 
Moore would bring forward the matter he had been 
getting together; or, again, one or the other would 
read a letter just taken from the post-office. Their 
consultations were often quite animated ; and their 
pleasure on meeting with some enlivening incident 
for the pages of the " Gazetteer," and especially as 
they approached the end of the book, was not to be 
suppressed. This work was published in 1823 ; in 
February of which year, at the invitation of Mr. 
Moore, who was going to Boston, strange as it may 
seem he made a brief visit to his friends in Billerica. 

But the hard task of preparing the " Gazetteer" hav- 
ing been completed, he seemed to breathe more freely ; 
and undoubtedly he felt the need of rest. So that, 
when the next spring arrived, he began to make prep- 
aration for an extended journey, — a huge undertak- 
ing for a man of his health and habits. He wiped 
his pen dry, shuffled his papers together and put them 
away, shut up his desk, seeming to say "good-by" to 
all that usually surrounded and employed him ; and for 
several weeks there were vacancy and silence around 
the spot which was nearly always enlivened by his 
presence. 

On a fine morning — it might have been in the 



JOURNEYS. 51 

middle of June (1824) — he started out into the fra- 
grant summer air, with Dr. Morrill's horse and chaise, 
and with his boy clerk for an attendant. The first 
day's ride brought us to the beautiful town of Am- 
herst, — his former place of residence, — where he was 
welcomed to the hospitality of Nathan Kendall, Esq., 
with whose family his associations run, like threads of 
light, through all the acts and experiences of his youth 
and manhood. The next morning when we awoke, 
the sun was shining brightly into the room where we 
slept ; and, knowing that this was my first trial of 
being away from home, his first words were, *' Well, 
where are you now } " He next visited his sister, Mrs. 
Riddle, residing in Merrimack. Then we drove across 
the State line into Massachusetts, and as far as North 
Billerica, where he made a visit of several days with 
Mr. and Mrs. Rogers (Mrs. Rogers being a motherly 
aunt, who showed him a great deal of attention) ; and 
a shorter one with an uncle (Farmer), in the more 
southern part of the same town. From this place we 
rode to Salem, where he regaled himself a few days 
in the company of friends, — perhaps cousins, — and 
where he seemed greatly to enjoy a little excursion to 
the seashore. Then, turning his face toward home, 
he stopped with relatives in Andover, and again with 
his sister in Merrimack ; from which place I was sent 
home to Concord with the horse and chaise, leaving 
him to finish his journey at his leisure. 



52 MEMOIR OF JOHN FARMER. 

He did not ride through the country in silence: 
he spoke of the friends he was going to visit or had 
visited, of the birds and the trees that attracted his 
attention, and of other things unnumbered ; showing 
that his mind was fully and ever alive. He was ab- 
sent from home five or six weeks, as nearly as can be 
stated now ; and during the whole time he seemed 
like one sailing upon a smooth sea, and under a cloud- 
less sky. Everywhere he was cordially received, and 
overwhelmed with kind attentions. His enjoyment 
must have been well-nigh unalloyed ; although as he 
went from place to place, and bade adieu to his kin- 
dred and former associates, he must have reflected, 
that, in the case of most of them, it was probably for 
the last time. 

This excursion was an extraordinary event in his 
life. Scarcely ever afterwards did he turn his back 
upon his desk and his manuscripts, even for a single 
day, excepting when unable to pursue the work in 
which he delighted. And it would appear evident, 
that he enjoyed better health at this time than he 
generally did in the later periods of his life : it cer- 
tainly was not often that he could rely upon his 
strength sufficiently to trust himself away from 
home. 

He went, in company with his friend Mr. Moore, 
about the time the ** Gazetteer" was published, to pay 



JOURNEYS. 53 

a visit to the venerable Mr. Welch, who lived three 
or four miles away, in the town of Bow, and who 
had attained the very great age of nearly one hundred 
and twelve years. And in those early years he made 
some brief visits at the house of Mr. Moore, and that 
of Dr. Morrill, and possibly other places ; but it was 
not until the year 1836 that he took another journey 
equal in length to that of 1824. He then visited 
Boston, doubtless anticipating great enjoyment in 
meeting many people of eminence whom he had known 
by reputation or correspondence, if not by personal 
acquaintance. 

What is here said of this visit, is derived from his 
diary ; concerning which the remark may be made, 
that it is largely meteorological, is by no means full 
at any period, and has in it many interruptions. The 
original is among the collections of the Northern 
Academy of Science, Dartmouth College, Hanover, 
N.H. ; and a copy, transcribed by the late Rev. Silas 
Ketchum, among those of the New-Hampshire An- 
tiquarian Society, at Contoocook, N.H. This diary, 
unless a portion of it has been lost, is perfectly silent 
as regards his setting-out for Boston ; nor does it say 
where he was at first entertained. It appears, how- 
ever, that he was there on the 14th of September, 
1836, and received some calls on the following days ; 
but the record is for the " 29th, Joseph E. Worcester 



54 MEMOIR OF JOHN FARMER. 

called, with whom I had an interview," — a remark 
that would not have been made if he had not been 
laid aside by illness. And then the record is for the 
" 30th, Rode out with Mr. Edmund Jackson ; first 
time since illness." Then the record further is, " Oct. 
I, Edmund Jackson called, and gave me an airing." 
" Oct. 2, Came to Edmund Jackson's, where I re- 
mained till the 22d." 

It is probable that the fatiguing journey to Boston, 
together with the excitement of receiving the atten- 
tions of the cultivated people of the place, proved too 
severe a trial for his enfeebled nervous system ; so 
that for some days after his first glance at the city 
he was reduced to the close confinement of sickness 
and suffering. But, apparently, he soon rallied ; and 
during the last part of his visit he saw much of the 
sunny side of life. He speaks of riding to some place 
of interest almost every day, — to Roxbury several 
times, to Dorchester, to Punch-Bowl Village, to Com- 
mercial Wharf, and through State to Tremont Street, 
to Brookline, and round by Jamaica Pond and the seat 
of John Lowell, to South Boston, and round the 
Common. 

And among those who called upon him were, Fran- 
cis Jackson and wife, Dr. James Jackson, Judge Jack- 
son, Edmund Jackson, Eliza F. Jackson, S. W. Jackson, 
Rev. Dr. Cogswell, Rev. Dr. Harris, Rev. J. B. Felt, 



JOURNEYS. 55 

Joseph Willard, Esq., and many ,others. His record 
is for ''Oct. 19, Called at Francis Jackson, Esq.'s, 
and passed the a.m." 

" Oct. 22, Bade adieu to my hospitable friends Mr. 
and Mrs. Jackson, and returned to Nashua with my 
friend Mr. Spalding." 



VIII. 

CHRISTIAN CHARACTER. 

^JTST is evident that Dr. Farmer was a Christian. 
TO IM His diary and his letters show, that in his 
»^^^i^ earlier days he was a constant and interested 
attendant upon public worship. He often made a 
record of the texts of the sermons he heard; and 
all his conversation and demeanor during life must 
be admitted as indubitable proof that he was a true 
disciple of Christ, although he may not have become 
a communicant with any particular church. And 
although this sketch cannot be classed with religious 
biography, yet it is no more than justice to record, 
that in many ways Dr. Farmer expressed his strong 
attachment to the religion of the Pilgrim Fathers. 
In one of his letters to Hon. Isaac Spalding, writ- 
ten when he was twenty-nine years old, he made the 
confession, " Such is my indwelling depravity, that, 
strange as it may appear, my days pass along with 
a constant accumulation of sin and guilt, which can 



CHRISTIAN CHARACTER. 57 

only be pardoned through the merits of an Almighty 
Saviour." Some time after his death, his former part- 
ner in business, Hon. Samuel Morrill, a deacon of 
the North Church in Concord, who must have known 
the depths of his heart, said to the writer, '* He was a 
good man : he trusted in the merits of the atonement 
of Christ." 

With his other excellences of character was con- 
nected an undisguised regard for the Bible. He re- 
vered and read it as the inspired word of God. This 
was made to appear in many ways. Among the gifts 
I received from him was that of a Bible (i6mo), in 
the first part of which were a couple of leaves so 
neatly pasted in as to appear as if originally belong- 
ing to the book. On those leaves was written, in an 
elegant hand, and in letters almost as fine as diamond, 
the following encomium upon the Holy Scriptures : — 

"'The Holy Scriptures which are able to make thee wise unto 
salvation.' — Paul. 

" Numerous testimonies from the writings of distinguished, 
though uninspired men, might be exhibited in favor of the 
authenticity and excellence of the Scriptures. That prod- 
igy of learning. Sir William Jones, wrote on the fly-leaf of 
his Bible the following remarks : ' I have carefully and 
regularly perused these Holy Scriptures, and am of opinion 
that the volume, independently of its divine origin, contains 
more sublimity, purer morality, more important history, and 



58 MEMOIR OF JOHN FARMER. 

finer strains of eloquence, tljan can be collected from all 
other books, in whatever language they may be written.' 
The advice of that 'giant in literature,' Dr. Samuel John- 
son, to a young friend on a particular occasion, is equally in 
point. Summoning up all his peculiar energy of manner 
and expression, he said, ' Read the Bible : all other books 
have their foundation and their merits there.' The illus- 
trious names of Milton, Newton, Locke, and a host of 
others, might be adduced. Even the deistical Byron (a 
lamented instance of perverted talents), in one of those 
seasons of conviction that irresistibly force themselves upon 
infidel minds, confessed the superior excellence of the 
sacred books. But the testimony of the inspired apostle, 
eminent for his learning and his intellectual gifts, from whose 
writings the above motto is selected, has still greater weight. 
His estimate of the Scriptures may be learned from his dec- 
laration that he counted ' all things but loss for the excel- 
lency of the knowledge that is in Christ Jesus.' This 
knowledge the Bible imparts. Other kinds of knowledge, 
however useful, fall short of promoting the grand design of 
human existence, — the glory of God and the salvation of 
the soul ; and as all knowledge is valuable, only in proportion 
to the end to which it conduces, what infinite superiority is 
attached to the knowledge contained in the Bible ! The 
Bible is its own best evidence. The humble saint, who — 

'Just knows, and knows no more, 
His Bible true,' 

is a living illustration of the intrinsic excellence of this 
blessed book. 



CHRISTIAN CHARACTER, 59 

" The religion of the Bible elevates not only the moral, 
but intellectual, "character of man. By preserving him from 
the dominion of the passions, his mind becomes serene and 
unclouded, and its faculties acquire new vigor, and new 
powers of perception. ' Religion is the highest exercise 
of the noblest faculties of the mind upon the sublimest 
topics of mental investigation ; the voluntary, excursive, 
endless pursuits of the human understanding in the region: 
of eternal truth.' 

" Wouldst thou, my friend, that this intellectual elevation 
were thine ? Wouldst thou acquire the most exquisite relish 
for the subhme and beautiful in nature ? Wouldst thou sus- 
tain a character for usefulness and respectability in life? 
Wouldst thou ' have always a conscience void of offence 
toward God and toward men ' ? Wouldst thou have com- 
fort in affliction, society in solitude, true enjoyment in pros- 
perity, and a shelter from the storms of adversity ? Wouldst 
thou that thy good resolutions should be strengthened ; thy 
love of virtue, and abhorrence of vice, confirmed and per- 
petuated ; thy moral sense, the nice perception of right and 
wrong, quickened and preserved in its purity ? And wouldst 
thou not only know, \iM\ pursue, the path of duty? — Read 
this book. Wouldst thou be an object of complacency to 
all holy beings, and to the holiest of all? Wouldst thou 
'grow in grace, and in the knowledge of the Lord and 
Saviour Jesus Christ ' ? In fine, wouldst thou be happy 
through all the changing scenes of life, have hope in death, 
and an immortal inheritance of glory beyond the grave? 
Then, read the Bible ; read it frequently, believingly, and 



6o MEMOIR OF JOHN FARMER. 

prayerfully ; make it the 7nan of thy counsel, and conform 
thy life to its precepts''' 

This excellent man was also a believer in the sab- 
bath, as a day to be kept holy, both because it is an 
appointment of .God, and because of its beneficent 
tendencies and effects. Therefore he adopted the 
sentiment of Sir Matthew Hale, who is credited with 
saying, " No tradesman is more careful to take in his 
wares at night, than I am to take in my thoughts of 
this world's business when Saturday night arrives." 
His regard for the sacredness of the Lord's Day was 
in one case exhibited in a very practical way. It was 
on a winter sabbath day, and the snow had fallen 
to a considerable depth during the night previous ; so 
that, not unwillingly, I found an excuse for omitting 
my usual visit to the sanctuary, and passed a portion 
of the day in the company of the doctor. The ingre- 
dients of some kind of a preparation were in process 
of dissolution in a bottle, and needed longer to be 
kept under the influence of heat. In my thought- 
lessness I set the bottle upon the stove, wishing to 
hasten the operation that was going on, but was 
quickly directed to take it off, and reminded that the 
sabbath was no day for any such business. 

Connected with his religious feelings was a pro- 
found and affectionate reverence for the ministers of 
the gospel. He loved their society, and sincerely 



CHRISTIAN CHARACTER. 6 1 

desired the prosperity of the grand objects to which 
their lives are .devoted. And the interest he felt in 
religion led him to contribute, according to his ability, 
for the promotion of every good and charitable work. 
If, however, he saw so much to be honored in the 
men of the sacred calling, yet he could recognize an 
eccentricity or a foible that might appear in their 
ranks, or relate with a zest a comical anecdote affect- 
ing some one of their number. Either to ''point a 
moral or adorn a tale," he once gave a description of 
the manner in which a clergyman taught his servant 
(colored) to cross a stream upon string-pieces. De- 
manding the strictest attention, he instructed the 
negro to follow his example ; and then stepping upon 
the slippery log, and placing his feet very carefully, he 
said, *' Do so, and so, and so^' — and, as he uttered 
the third or fourth ''sol' he was floundering in the 
water. This anecdote was greatly enjoyed by the 
usually sedate doctor. 

, I once heard him speak somewhat in disapproval of 
some remarks made in a sermon at a protracted meet- 
ing, which had been reported to him ; the preacher 
having spoken in terms which he thought inordinately 
fervid, of the separations between dear friends which 
must take place at the judgment-day. But I think it 
was only the extreme to which the idea was carried, 
that was aimed at by his criticism : I never heard 
him say a word against religion in itself. 



62 MEMOIR OF JOHN FARMER. 

A man generally shows very much of his charac- 
ter by his letters. Some extracts from those of Dr. 
Farmer will give an idea of the paternal feeling which 
he always cherished towards young men. After I 
had written to him, expressing the warmest gratitude 
for the kindness shown me in past years, he wrote as 
follows : — 

Concord, 4 Aug., 1827. 

My YOUNG Friend, — I received your letter this morning, 
and was much gratified with your remembrance of me, and 
still more with the manner in which you allude to past times 
and opportunities of improvement while under my care. If 
you received any benefit from my instructions, I am glad, 
and shall consider the gratitude you express for them as the 
richest compensation I could receive. The good resolutions 
you have formed for improving present privileges are highly 
commendable, and I hope will be well fortified ; and let me 
urge upon you, as of the greatest importance, the duty due 
to that Being who giveth us richly all things to enjoy, and 
who has the first claim to our services and gratitude. 

I will add an extract from a letter, written in 1791 by your 
excellent great-uncle the late Gov. Brooks, to a youth of 
Medford, but then in Scotland, which contains very judicious 
advice : — 

" At this period of life, the mind is pecuHarly susceptible of 
impressions. At this period, too, habits are generally formed 
which are as durable as our existence. We sometimes, indeed, 
see a youth of active industry degenerate into an age of indo- 
lence ; but we seldom see a youth of sloth exchanged for an age 



CHRISTIAN CHARACTER. 63 

of application. Let me then, from motives of friendship, call 
to your recollection those principles which I have often sug- 
gested to you, which are of infinite consequence, and cannot 
too frequently be the subjects of contemplation." 

It is not doubted but that you may be subject to some 
services which require patience, and sacrifices of personal 
feeling, to perform ; but you can look forward to when you 
shall be promoted, and some one else will succeed you in 
those services which you consider sometimes as disagreeable. 
You will recollect the advice of Cotton Mather to Dr. Frank- 
lin when he was a lad, who, on being shown a shorter way 
out of the house, through a narrow passage, did not notice 
a beam over his head — though directed by Mather to " stoop, 
stoop ! " — until he hit his head against the beam. Now, Dr. 
Mather never missed any occasion of giving good instruc- 
tion, and upon this incident said to Franklin, "You are 
young, and have the world before you : stoop as you go 
through it, and you will miss many hard thumps." Dr. 
Franklin has said that the advice thus beat into his heart 
was of great importance to him aftenvards. 

I am glad to find that you are reading Watts's " Improve- 
ment of the Mind " and Robertson's " Charles V.," and hope 
you will receive much good from the former, and pleasure 
from the latter. You will find Mason's " Self- Knowledge " a 
very good book. There is an edition to which I prepared 
questions last summer, and was pubHshed in this town. I 
notice with pleasure your good writing, correct spelling, and 

correct punctuation. 

Your friend, 

JOHN FARMER. 



64 MEMOIR OF JOHN FARMER. 

Probably at this time his table was encumbered 
with records of the early settlers of New England, 
or catalogues of colleges ; and it must have been 
about the same period that he was gathering materials 
for his edition of Belknap's " History of New Hamp- 
shire," which was one of the most ponderous of his 
historical works. He was also giving more or less 
attention to the instruction of young men who were 
frequently calling upon him, conversing with them 
upon the contents of the books he had recommended, 
and correcting their compositions; not to mention his 
correspondence, and the numerous calls from promi- 
nent men of Concord and many other places, which 
made heavy demands upon his time and strength. 
But still he did not forget the one, now a printer's 
boy away from home, who had received so much of 
his affectionate attention in previous years. Here are 
extracts from another of his letters, — whose com- 
mendatory expressions, however, would seem to need 
a little softening down. 

Concord, 2 July, 1828. 

My young Friend, — Your letter, accompanied with 
several newspapers, was handed to me by your sister ; and I 
was surprised and delighted with the improvement which 
one short year has made in your penmanship, and in your 
style of writing. The train of thought and expansion of 
mind, with a full determination of future improvement, all 



CHRISTIAN CHARACTER. 65 

agree well, and are to me highly gratifying. The days that 
are past cannot be recalled ; and, if we are sensible that any 
portion of them has been spent in youthful follies, it is the 
part of wisdom to avail ourselves of the experience we have 
acquired, and to endeavor that our future days shall be filled 
up with duty and usefulness. In this way, we may in some 
measure atone for past misimprovement of time. We may 
correct the foibles of youth. We may fix the principles 
which ought to govern us through manhood. I have already 
informed you that a virtuous course in youth will lead to 
stable and useful manhood. Even if we are compelled to 
associate with persons debased with habits of intemperance, 
profanity, and lewdness, we can, by the force and influence 
\)f good principles, avoid the contagion. Our own charac- 
ters will remain unsulhed if we come not into their secret, 
and keep aloof from their vices. I am obliged to you for 
the list of publications you sent. If you should find any 
others, in past years issued from your office, their titles would ■ 
be acceptable. It will also gratify me at all times to hear 
of your progress in knowledge and virtue ; to know what 
books you read, and the benefits you derive from^ them. 
Watts's V Improvement of the Mind," and Mason on "Self- 
Knowledge," are works of great value ; but, to read them with 
profit and advantage, we should have our minds clear, and 
free from the entanglements of business or amusement. A 
few good histories, and the Constitutions of the United States 
and of this State, should make a part of your reading. 

For your respectful notice I am grateful, and am your 

friend and instructor, 

JOHN FARMER. 




IX. 

ANTI-SLAVERY. — FRIENDSHIP. 

R. FARMER possessed a native tenderness 
of heart which led him to sympathize with 
all the sufferers of misfortune. This was 
the source of his earnest devotion to the cause of the 
enslaved, while yet he clearly saw that every consid- 
eration of patriotism and benevolence also required 
that same devotion. That cause he ardently embraced 
when it first began to agitate the public mind, and 
to it he consecrated much of his best strength to the 
end of his life. Even when it became a subject of 
controversy, not always unmixed with bitterness, he 
firmly adhered to the sentiment that every human 
being has a right to his liberty, and that consequently 
it is a sin to take away liberty from one of God's in- 
telligent creatures, unless it be forfeited by crime. 

He well understood the objects and operations of 
the American Colonization Society : he admitted that 
its affairs were conducted by good men, and that, 



ANTI-SLAVERY. 6y 

viewed by itself alone, it was worthy of all commen- 
dation. But inasmuch as that society aimed at the 
removal of the free colored people only, while his 
desire was to have all set free, without expatriation, 
he felt compelled to turn his back upon it, and to use 
his influence exclusively for the emancipation of the 
entire colored race of the country. 

He was not ignorant of the objections and difficul- 
ties supposed to stand in the way of the extinguish- 
ment of the system of slavery. He knew that the 
abolitionists were accused of using violent language 
and violent measures, and committing many grave 
mistakes. But his answer was, that in subjecting 
men to the degradation and cruelty of hopeless bond- 
age, was the violence that most deserved condem- 
nation ; and that in tolerating such a wrong for an 
hour, there was the great mistake. Still he went on 
pleading that the enslaved millions might be set free.i 

For the accomplishment of this grand object, he 
wrote, acted, and prayed. He was corresponding 
secretary of the New-Hampshire Anti-Slavery Soci- 
ety for a considerable time, though probably never 
able to be present at its meetings. His annual re- 
ports were replete with facts and arguments which 
had a powerful influence throughout the State. The 
anticipation of the hour — which he did not live to 
see — when all the inhabitants of the land should 



68 MEMOIR OF JOHN FARMER. 

rejoice in the possession of liberty loomed up before 
his imagination like a vision of glory. His hopes 
were fixed upon it : it seemed almost constantly to 
employ his thoughts, and was most frequently the 
topic of his conversation. 

He was never harsh or sarcastic in opposing the 
course pursued by others in relation to the subject, 
but invariably gave evidence of being governed by the 
dictates of an upright conscience and a sincere heart ; 
and he always enjoyed the respect of those who dif- 
fered from him in opinion. The man who questioned 
his motives, or opposed him with any severity, has 
never yet made his appearance. Nor did he suffer 
his views* of slavery to diminish his regard for the 
Bible or its religion. He did what he could while 
his strength lasted ; and, when he could do no more 
with voice or pen, he directed in his will — which was 
left unfinished — that a portion of his moderate prop- 
erty be given to the cause that lay so near his heart. 

Some of his letters, found in the later portions of 
these reminiscences, convey a clear idea of his views 
and feelings on this subject. 

No one could be much in the company of Dr. 
Farmer without learning that the New-Hampshire 
Historical Society was an institution in which he 
felt a deep interest. He assisted in its formation in 
1823, became its corresponding secretary a year or 



NEW-HAMPSHIRE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 69 

two later, and continued to»perform the duties of that 
office with eminent abihty until the close of his life. 
He naturally fell into such a position. Historical 
researcli^s were to him both business and pleasure. 
The exclusion of the subject from his mind would 
have been the breaking up of the whole habit and 
course of his existence. Though constantly com- 
muning with the men of past days, he was laboring 
for the benefit of future generations. He saw it to 
be of the greatest importance, that the present gen- 
eration should hand down to those yet unborn a 
knowledge of the character and achievements of their 
fathers ; even feeling that he could not pardon him- 
self if he did not do his utmost for the accomplish- 
ment of this object. Except during the frequent 
intervals when sickness compelled him to drop his 
pen, he sat at his table, day after day, month after, 
month, year after year, examining ancient records, 
copying time-worn and half-legible documents, bring- 
ing order out of confusion, in graceful form placing 
before the eye of the children a picture of the life 
and times of their fathers. 

Disease had a hold upon him from which he could 
not extricate himself, and the periods of his inability 
to be at his work were discouragingly frequent. Some- 
times he was laid aside with an irritation of the lungs ; 
at other times the stomach seemed to be the offend- 



70 MEMOIR OF JOHN FARMER. 

ing organ ; or, again, it \fas general debility, accom- 
panied with more or less of fever, that laid him low. 
But little of change in the atmosphere, of extra labor 
or excitement, or of food to which he was nCt accus- 
tomed, was required to place him upon his bed. And 
painful it was to those who loved him, and watched 
over him, to witness the paleness of the cheek, the 
sadness of the eye, and the weariness of patience and 
submission by which his sufferings were attended. 

How he could perform so great an amount of labor 
with a constitution that appeared always ready for a 
final collapse, was a wonder to many. In Writing let- 
ters alone, he did work sufficient for the strength of 
an ordinary man. His correspondents belonged in 
every part of the country, and included — if not 
others in Europe — the secretary of the Royal Society 
of Northern Antiquaries at Copenhagen. And yet 
he was one of the humblest of men. He was perfectly 
destitute of the egotism of genius, and apparently 
without anxiety in regard to the estimation placed 
upon his labors by others. 

Dr. Farmer was a man whose heart was incessantly 
emitting the fragrance of a pure affection. He knew 
how to be a friend, and no one ever more highly val- 
ued the friendship of others. He ever felt grateful 
that he was permitted to spend several years preced- 
ing his majority in a family in Amherst, where he was 



FRIENDSHIP, 



71 



treated as a son, and enjoyed privileges peculiarly his 
own ; rendering it natural for one of the members 
recently to write, '' The store, and John's chamber 
at the house, remain, nor has the apple-tree of his 
culture been removed." But alas for the stability 
of earthly mementos ! I have since learned that the 
apple-tree no longer stands. 

This was the family of Nathan Kendall, Esq., to one 
of whose daughters, it may not be going too far to 
say, he conceived a strong attachment, but from whom 
he became voluntarily disconnected on account of his 
feeble health ; and he never married. One of the 
daughters of the same family became the wife of 
Hon. Isaac Spalding, one of the wealthiest and most 
influential citizens of Nashua, N.H., who died in 1876. 
And another married David Steele, Esq., a prominent 
attorney-at-law, of Hillsborough Bridge, N.H., also 
deceased. In Mr. Spalding and wife, Dr. Farmer 
found friends, intimate, trusted, and lifelong ; and 
Mrs. Steele was to him an angel of consolation whose 
tender sympathy was ever at his command in hours 
of sickness and suffering, and whose privilege it was 
to minister to his necessities, and smooth his pillow 
when he fell into the arms of death. 

In his familiar conversations he often spoke of his 
former associates. Among the members of the lit- 
erary society at Amherst, was Levi Hartshorn, who 



72 MEMOIR OF JOHN FARMER. 

Studied theology, and died early. He was a particular 
friend. Never did the writer of this narrative hear 
him speak in a tone of greater sadness than when 
uttering his recollections of this friend. Very soon 
after he had commenced the work of the ministry, he 
preached on a sabbath in the pulpit of Rev. Dr. Lord, 
then of Amherst. He was in ill health, and the effort 
caused the perspiration to stream from every pore ; 
and he was immediately prostrated with a fever, 
which terminated in death, just when the bright pros- 
pect of a life of usefulness and happiness was open- 
ing before him. This sudden and violent disruption 
of so warm a friendship seemed to lie as a permanent 
pain upon his heart. 

But, at the time of this friend's decease, he was 
away from home ; and what were his feelings on re- 
ceiving the intelligence, we learn from his own words, 
in a letter to Mr. Spalding from Salem, Oct. i, 1819: — 

My dear Friend, — The mournful and heart-rending in- 
telligence contained in your letter of the 30th was divulged 
to me the same day, through the medium of " The Boston 
Gazette." For your kindness and attention in giving me 
such early and interesting particulars respecting my lamented 
friend, I am truly under the sincerest obligations. You did 
not miscalculate my feelings in supposing that I should not 
be uninterested in such an event. It is an event afflictive 
beyond any thing of the kind I ever experienced, for I 



FRIENDSHIP. 



73 



never before lost so dear a friend and associate. Suffer a 
few lines from me on so melancholy a subject. 

A letter from Amherst to M. C, dated on Sunday, and 
received on Tuesday, gave me the first intimation of Mr. 
Hartshorn's sickness ; but I hoped and prayed that he 
might recover. Yesterday forenoon, after I had been read- 
ing and writing some time, I walked out, as the morning 
clouds had dispersed, and the sun appeared with cheering 
beams, — Httle apprehending that the beauties afforded by a 
serene sky, and the satisfaction of my heart in beholding 
them, would be so soon enveloped with the clouds of such 
melancholy intelligence. I took my accustomed walk to the 
printing-office, which I had no sooner entered, and seated 
myself, when Mr. P. said, "You knew Mr. Hartshorn of 
Gloucester : he is dead ! " I was petrified with astonish- 
ment. My emotions suppressed my utterance ; and I dis- 
tinctly felt, as it were, the chords of friendship which had 
so long united us forcibly severed from my heart. 

" As those we love decay, we die in part : 
String after string is severed fiom the heart." 

The death of an eminent and highly useful servant of 
the cross is at all times a calamity of an afflictive kind ; but 
when we view that person in the relation of a dear friend, 
the event is doubly distressing. My acquaintance with Mr. 
Hartshorn, as you probably know, commenced in the sum- 
mer of 1809, while we were companions at school. It soon 
ripened into a friendship which was cemented by the closest 
ties of affection. In the midst of his usefulness, in the 



74 MEMOIR OF JOHN FARMER. 

meridian of his strength, in the flower and prime of his hfe, 
he is cut down, and numbered with the silent dead. The 
blossom has fallen to the earth, but it will bloom again with 
celestial fragrance in the paradise of God. 

" The friend I mourn, with sacred love was fraught; 
And truths divine, with Christian zeal he taught. 
Still may he teach ! still from the grave impart 
Such truths as melt the eye, and mend the heart. 
Oh, might I pour the solemn, plaintive strain, 
And might its accents not be heard in vain ! " 

The delineation of his character would far transcend my 

feeble powers. Even if I were qualified, I should at the 

present moment be unable, from the effect this event has 

had on my system. I reflect with astonishment at finding 

myself the survivor of many early associates whose lives 

promised a longer date than my own. While I have stood 

feebly on the stage of existence, I have seen many of strength, 

beauty, and renown faU around me. I can only say, that 

the hand of kind Providence, the Father of mercies, has 

sustained me. Let us be thankful for the gift of life, and 

improve it while it lasts. 

I am yours, 

J. FARMER. 

It v^ras in connection with some of his allusions to 
this cherished associate (if there be no error of 
memory), that I first learned that Dr. Farmer pos- 
sessed a fine musical taste. He had an ear of ex- 
quisite sensitiveness, but .his voice partook of the 



LOVE OF MUSIC. 



75 



weakness of his physical powers generally ; whereas 
his friend, in addition to a fine ear, had a voice both 
melodious and strong. He said that on one occasion 
Mr. Hartshorn and himself were out enjoying a ride, a 
little distance from their home in Amherst. Having 
reached an eminence which afforded an extensive view 
of the surrounding country, they halted to feast their 
eyes upon the magnificent scenery that lay spread out 
around and beneath them. As they were gazing, 
and expressing their admiration, Mr. Hartshorn felt 
the stirring of the muse within him ; and he struck 
into the tune of "Scotland," with the words, "The 
voice of free grace cries escape to the mountain ! " — 
sending the lofty strains echoing over wood, hill, and 
dale. At that moment there was kindled in the soul 
of the listener an enthusiasm of delight that must 
have been strange to himself, so irresistibly did he 
seem borne aloft upon the wings of the music that 
fell upon his ear. 

In giving an account of this incident, he exhibited 
the deepest feeling. His countenance assumed an 
aspect that was rare, though characteristic of his 
higher moods. To give a description of it, is exceed- 
ingly difficult. There was a blending of solemn 
assurance with joyous satisfaction, the eye and the 
whole countenance beaming with glowing radiance. 
The lower portion of the face seemed to be actually 



76 MEMOIR OF JOHN FARMER. 

widened ; the cheeks were filled out, and slightly 
reddened ; the more prominent features took on new 
strength ; every part of the body came into harmony 
with the uplifted soul ; and the entire man became 
vocal in the expression of the positive joy of the 
heart. He was grandly indignant on rare occasions, 
especially when remarking upon the horrors of the 
system of slavery ; but it was seldom that any event 
could arouse him to so high a degree of honest, noble, 
quietly demonstrative satisfaction as was manifest in 
the case now mentioned. 

His love of music led him sometimes to ask a 
young man who might be in his room, to favor him 
with a little rehearsal of some piece from his singing- 
book. His boarding-place, on State Street in Con- 
cord, was in the neighborhood of the Baptist church ; 
and for a time a prayer-meeting was held in the ves- 
try of that church early on sabbath morning. He 
once spoke with feeling of the pleasure he experi- 
enced as his ear was greeted by the singing of that 
meeting. He mentioned particularly the tune of 
" Sterling," as having had a thrilling effect upon 
him. On still another occasion, as he heard a little 
girl singing while at work in another part of the 
house, — with the door ajar, — he remarked, ''How 
sweet is that music ! It is the singing of Nature : it 
sounds like the birds." 



POETRY. yy 

So the most trifling circumstance made its appeal 
to his sensitive nature and refined taste. He saw 
beauty, and derived pleasure from it, when many 
others would discover nothing worthy of attention. 
Once he held up a blooming damask rose that had 
been presented to him, and said in an animated tone, 
and with a countenance all aglow, "Who can paint 
like that > " 

His engrossment in the dry details of history and 

genealogy did not extinguish his love of poetry. 

Pope's "Essay on Man" was familiar to him ; and I 

have heard him quote the lines, on some occasion, — 

" Go ! If your ancient but ignoble blood 
Has crept through scoundrels ever since the Flood." 

But I presume he did not apply such words to any of 
the characters whose fame he was endeavoring to 
perpetuate. He would express himself as greatly de- 
lighted while reading, or hearing read, some of the 
more beautiful portions of Thomson's " Seasons ; " 
the language of his sparkling eye agreeing with that 
of his tongue. But Cowper, probably, was his favor- 
ite. Indeed, he possessed much of the mild and 
kindly spirit of the beautiful writer whose poem " On 
the Receipt of my Mother's Picture " has reached the 
depths of so many hearts. 

At one time he opened a volume of Cowper, and 
handed me, requesting me to read aloud, saying, 



yS ' MEMOIR OF JOHN FARMER. 

" Begin there ; " pointing to the lines in the " Winter 
Evening" of "The Task," — 

" Now stir the fire, and close the shutters fast. 
Let fall the curtains ; wheel the sofa round." 

This was on a winter evening at his State-street 
boarding-house, and there was a glowing fire upon 
the hearth before him. And, as the reading went 
on, he occasionally changed his position in just such 
a way as seemed expressive of enjoyment ; once in 
a while interjecting the grateful applause : " How 
plainly one can see all that!" or words of similar 
import. 

It is not too much to say that Cowper was to him 
as a cherished acquaintance, rather than a poet of 
the opposite hemisphere and of the previous age. 
Far more cheerful than was the poet, yet he ever 
alluded to him in a tone of affectionate sympathy, as 
if he had seen him, and loved him as a brother. He 
kept in his mind the names of the hares upon which 
the poet bestowed so much attention, and admitted 
them also to his friendship ; although he himself did 
not keep even a dog, like Sir Isaac Newton, to tip 
over the lamp, and burn up his manuscripts ; or, like 
Dr. Johnson, a cat, to creep over his shoulders. 




X. 

MODE OF LIFE. 

'UT, however refined in his tastes, he was not 
one of the nervously timid sort of people. 
There was no trace of superstition in him. 
He had no eye for a ghost, and there was too much 
of consistency in his mental composition to allow 
him to be thrown into qualms by any trifling matter. 
He was thrown out of his equilibrium, it is true, one 
evening, — probably in the winter of 1822-23, — when 
a fighting and intoxicated old man was hustled into 
the shop for surgical aid, with his head and face cov- 
ered with blood. There was considerable confusion, 
the bleeding man having a goodly number of assist- 
ants and followers ; and some one crying out as if in 
great alarm, " This man wants his head done up ! " 
The doctor's face was scarcely in its usually composed 
condition, showing that he had no taste for practising 
surgery in such a case ; and he said, with no little 
appearance of disgust, " I can't do it : take him to 
Dr. C- !" 



80 MEMOIR OF JOHN FARMER. 

But just at the head of the stairs, — leading from 
the entry, — among the rubbish in the garret, not 
more than ten feet from his table, there was a box — 
minus a cover — full of ghastly human bones; and 
lying round somewhere was another box, containing 
the limbs of some fellow-mortal, with the desiccated 
flesh still adherent, — " preparations," the anatomists 
call them. But these things gave him no uneasiness ; 
neither was he disturbed by the presence of a human 
heart, a liver, and a pair of lungs, well dried and 
varnished (all these precious articles doubtless being 
the property of Dr. Morrill), standing on one end 
of his counter, upon slender supports, like bonnets 
in a milliner's shop. 

There are two classes of persons who are not fit for 
the cooler work of the anatomist's or the surgeon's 
profession. One class consists of the honestly timid, 
who make no effort to conceal their fear of the body 
when the soul has departed from it, and who are af- 
fected to swooning by the sight of a wound ; and the 
other includes those who make such demonstrations 
of lightness and bravery in presence of relics of the 
dead, or in view of the scenes of a military hospital, as 
to give rise to the suspicion that they are using this 
means of sustaining their courage. But Dr. Farmer 
belonged to neither of these classes. His mind was 
sober, cool, and clear, and his conscience also ; and 



MODE OF LIFE, 8 1 

of the sensitiveness that is morbid and without a rea- 
son, he did not partake. He was one of those who 
say nothing, because they think nothing, of things 
such as have been alluded to, and such as no one 
would choose to be familiar with except for instruction 
or necessary use. 

Immediately in the rear of the shop was an apart- 
ment which the doctor sometimes occupied as a 
sleeping-room, — notwithstanding the anatomical fur- 
nishings that were lying about, — especially during the 
month of June, when Gen. Low's house was filled with 
members of the Legislature. Another gentleman, 
who at a certain time passed a night with me in that 
room, was of a different temperament. When all was 
dark and still, and he was about dropping to sleep, 
there fell upon his ear from the lips of his bedfellow 
the inquiry, " Did you know there was a skeleton un- 
der the bed } " It was a thunder-peal, or might as 
well have been. " What } " said he, his alarm slightly 
tinged with anger. " Is it so .^" He was assured of 
the fact : and, as soon as he had comprehended the 
situation, he leaped from the bed, demanding that his 
young bedfellow do the same ; and in a trice the ob- 
jectionable box was dragged forth, and man and boy, 
one at one end, and the other at the other end, bore 
it to the farther back part of the building. Dr. Far- 
mer had a word of fault found with him for permitting 



82 MEMOIR OF JOHN FARMER, 

"that thing" to be left there. It must not be con- 
cluded, however, that the doctor himself ever occu- 
pied that bed with the box beneath it, or that he had 
any thing to do with the placing of things as they 
were. 

In connection with that same bed, there was an- 
other and a more inoffensive, but not less amusing, 
occurrence. It was the place where the doctor often 
took an after-dinner nap in the long days of summer. 
One day he wished to get so nearly asleep as to "lose 
himself," he said, and nothing more. That he might 
effect his purpose, he took a small weight from the 
counter, and held it in his open hand, with the hand 
extended over the edge of the bed; thinking he should 
be waked at the right moment by its falling upon the 
floor. But the plan was a failure. He got a longer 
nap than he had bargained for, and came out laughing, 
with the weight still in his hand. It had not been on 
the floor. 

A little episode in relation to another bed has often 
been acted over again, making strange music in the 
mind of the principal performer during the half-cen- 
tury that has passed away since it occurred. It must 
be brought in here, although it relates but little to 
the revered subject of this sketch. In those days 
when the doctor gave his young assistant and pupil 
the privilege of warming at least one-half of his couch 



MODE OF LIFE. 83 

at night, it was for a considerable period — doubtless 
for good reasons — that he occupied what might have 
been Mrs. Low's chamber of honor, usually reserved 
for visitors of the politest sort. And, as the lad was 
not expected to wait for the doctor to retire, it was not 
an unusual thing for him to be in bed first. It was 
so on the occasion now referred to, not a little to his 
long-continued chagrin. The lad soon began to see 
vessels sailing in the sky, and many other impossible 
things, which indicate that a young person is nearly 
sound asleep. But suddenly the room was brightly 
illumined, and ladies' voices were heard, making him 
think he had been carried away into some shining 
fairy-land. In amazement he lifted his head to as- 
certain what might be the state of the case; and 
probably in still greater amazement the ladies, and 
Mrs. Low most of all, saw a boy's head shoot up from 
the soft pillow, like a ''jack-in-the-box." But the case 
was soon understood. Mrs. Low had invited the 
doctor to take another room for the night, but his 
bedfellow had not been notified of the fact. The 
ladies withdrew, doubtless with appropriate embar- 
rassment ; and the boy hastened to make himself con- 
spicuous by his absence, feeling ashamed to the point 
of every hair of his head. It was necessary to relate 
the adventure to the doctor ; and to him it seemed so 
much more comic than tragic, that he dismissed it 
with a kind of compound smile. 



84 MEMOIR OF JOHN FARMER. 

Dr. Farmer was a man of practical wisdom. He 
had vastly more knowledge of human nature than 
many whose opportunities for seeing what it is were 
far superior to his own. His prudence and sagacity 
were daily in use. He could judge of character with 
singular accuracy. He could give advice. He could 
get hold of the hearts of others, and gain their confi- 
dence. He was one of the few men who have peo- 
ple's confidence, without seeming to make any effort 
to gain it ; he being always and everywhere above 
suspicion. 

He was ambitious only of doing his own proper 
business. He was economical of strength, time, and 
money. He made few false motions. He could say 
what he wished to say, without giving offence. He 
could ask the young man who had been sawing wood 
for him, as he was receiving his pay, " Now, what are 
you going to do with that money } " And, on receiving 
some kind of an answer, he would inquire, " Wouldn't 
it be wise to put a part of it into the savings bank } " 
— following up the suggestion with a little calculation 
about how much might be accumulated in that way in 
a given space of time, reckoning in the interest. He 
would thus show himself a benefactor to a person who 
perhaps had no other one to befriend him. 

Just in the right manner he could give a hint upon 
temperance i in eating or drinking. He would easily 



MODE OF LIFE. 85 

ascertain a young person's habits as to rising in the 
morning, and would advise an earlier hour; saying 
that an hour of precious time might be saved every 
day for reading, or some other profitable employment, 
but not omitting the suggestion that the change 
should be made gradually, lest rising a whole hour 
earlier than usual at first might cause unpleasant feel- 
ings for the whole day. 

The hints he gave concerning the preservation of 
health were many, and always wise. Speaking with a 
young man about climate, in its relations to longevity, 
he mentioned a remark, with which he appeared 
highly pleased, made by Dr. Franklin when on one of 
his missions in Europe. The philosopher was asked, 
to how great an age the people of America lived. 
His reply was, that " he could not tell till Drinker 
died;" Drinker being, according to the best version 
of the story now at hand, a resident of Philadelphia 
who had at that time attained a very great age. 

Dr. Farmer being such a man in all these respects, 
he could not but be a man of order and exact habits. 
He always knew where to find his boots, and could 
lay his hand on any utensil or piece of paper, without 
a long search, at any time. His clothes were invari- 
ably well brushed, and also his writing-desk and his 
floor. His medicines were never adulterated, even 
with dust. With him, to-day was very much like yes- 



86 MEMOIR OF JOHN FARMER. 

terday, and to-morrow like to-day. He never was in a 
hurry. He left his bed early in the morning ; went 
immediately to the washbowl, that stood beside the 
water-pail upon a bench or low shelf (this particu- 
larly in his apothecary days) ; washed hands and face 
thoroughly with a fine sponge, — always with a sponge, 
— which gave a glow to his cheeks such as they had 
at no other time ; then came a little throat-clearing, — 
too vigorous for a consumptive, and his voice was too 
easily managed for that ; the use of the comb came 
next ; in regard to the brush, I am in doubt ; then a 
few bouts of walking the room, — and he was ready 
for business ; generally nothing more than a little fix- 
ing of things till breakfast. He had a talent for em- 
ploying odd moments in the use of the dust-brush or 
the wing among his shelves, books, and bottles. 

His toilet was more elaborate when the beard 
needed attention, which was about three mornings a 
week. The shaving of his thin visage (he always 
shaved himself) was an undertaking of some magni- 
tude, and not unfrequently he came from the glass 
with a spot of blood on his face. 

He lived rationally. He was not afraid of a bit of 
beefsteak with potatoes. One day he took dinner 
alone, the family being absent ; and the girl, when 
she cleared the table, in her innocence made the re- 
mark, **The doctor ate pretty well to-day." That he 



MODE OF LIFE. 87 

ever indulged in wine, or any thing intoxicating, the 
present witness has no knowledge ; and for snuff and 
tobacco he had quite as little use. 

When breakfast was over, he went into the substan- 
tial business of the day. He sat down to that table 
in front of which so large a part of his life was spent. 
It was only three feet in length, and the same- in 
breadth, — a common hard-wood table, of the invariable 
old style, and of dark-brown color. Upon it was his 
plain, portable desk, of generous dimensions, and 
about the same hue; sloping on the front side to 
within some two and a half inches of the face of the 
table, and having on the opposite side the usual apart- 
ments for inkstand, sand-box, and pens. Its open 
face was covered with green flannel, worn smooth by 
the attrition of innumerable books and sheets of 
paper ; not to mention the hardship to which it was 
subjected by the continual pressure of the owner's 
right hand. And, were it not an indication that 
somebody's eyes were too familiar with the doctor's 
personal appearance, it might be recorded, that the 
lower surface of his coat-sleeve was sometimes worn 
to a shining smoothness. 

This desk was closely packed round with books 
and papers, so as to render its being pushed aside im- 
possible, without throwing any number of things upon 
the floor. It was never shut. A certain lad, before 



88 MEMOIR OF JOHN FARMER. 

whose eye it lay open for so long a time, saw the 
inside covers lifted very many times ; but it was so 
sacred a thing that he never had the vicious curiosity 
to touch one of them himself. It is not quite true, 
however, that it was never shut. When the doctor 
went upon the notable excursion of 1824, that desk 
was not left open, — a circumstance of deep signifi- 
cance, seeming to say that the busy toiler in that 
laboratory of knowledge was gone; and a circum- 
stance as rare as was the closing of the Temple of 
Janus at Rome, — signifying that peace prevailed 
among his manuscripts, books, pen, ink, and paper. 

And the chair he sat in was not one that the polite 
people of modern times would care to have in their 
parlors. It was of oak, round back, bent frame, with 
the seat covered with a plain cushion. He was a very 
Diogenes as regards furniture. Indeed, it has all been 
described ; unless his looking-glass has been forgotten, 
which might have been twelve inches by ten in size, 
with a few plain book-shelves and drawers, and a 
trunk or two. His thermometer, inkstand, folder, and 
ruler may be counted as nothing. The whole would 
scarcely have sold for twenty-five dollars. Not a pic- 
ture ever adorned the walls of his room, so far as I 
can recollect. 

There he sat at that table, and wrote and wrote. 
No outside attraction took off his attention. Gen. 



MODE OF LIFE. 89 

Lafayette rode through the thronged and noisy 
streets in the summer of 1825, and Gen. Jackson 
afterwards did the same thing ; but it is doubtful if 
his curiosity led him farther than the window in 
either case. Not that he did not breathe the spirit 
of patriotism ; not that he had no warm admiration 
for the great Frenchman and the great men of our 
own country, — but his physical inability to enjoy the 
exhilarating pageantry in which so many find delight, 
together with his engrossment in the one purpose of 
his life, continually held in check the curiosity he 
might otherwise have indulged. 




XL 

WRITING. — INDUSTRY. 

R. FARMER'S writing was plain, uniform, 
elegant, easily read ; each letter and each 
stroke formed so perfectly as to appear like 
engraving. He wrote rapidly, not often finding it 
necessary to make an erasure or an interlineation ; 
excepting when at work upon those statistical and 
catalogical publications in reference to which he was 
constantly receiving new information. 

In his writing, emphatic words and phrases, such 
as would be printed in Italics, were usually under- 
scored, and always with the aid of the ruler; that 
article being always kept within reach. His paper 
was generally without ruling ; but his lines were as 
straight as ruling could have made them, and of 
uniform distances from each other. Frequently he 
would hold up the left-hand end of the ruler, the 
opposite end resting upon the paper, so as to be able 
to make his line without blotting the words newly 
written. Once in a while — not often — he would 



WRITING. — IND US TRY. 9 1 

wipe off, while the ink was yet fresh, a letter or a 
word which had dropped from the pen by mistake. 
The ring-finger alone had the privilege of doing this 
work, and the ink finally found its way to his hair. 

He was sometimes seen bending over his paper, 
and writing, as if for variety's sake, with his chin or 
his cheek resting upon one end of his ruler, while the 
other end rested upon his thigh ; the prop being held 
in place by the left hand. When his writing was in- 
terrupted only for a moment, his pen was held in his 
mouth, or poised over his ear. 

His inditstry was something marvellous. With 
pen in his mouth, he would rise many times in a day, 
and go to his book-shelves to consult some authority. 
The writing of letters may be said to have been one 
of the principal things to demand the use of his 
strength. It is more than probable that he wrote 
at least one letter a day, on an average, during the 
whole of his Concord life ; as he was able to inform 
almost any man that was known to any extent who 
his ancestors were, and was constantly receiving 
letters of inquiry upon matters of the kind. 

His letters were models of neatness ; concise in 
their expressions, and to the point, without circum- 
locution ; affectionate, instructive, and encouraging, 
— those to young men especially so. He used letter- 
paper of the fashion of fifty years ago. In all his 



92 MEMOIR OF JOHN FARMER. 

letters the writing was methodically kept from the 
back of the sheet a proper distance, to allow of their 
being bound in a volume if desired ; and a suitable 
space was left upon the third page for the wafer. In 
the date he usually put the number of the day before 
the name of the month, — with the name of the month 
abbreviated when possible, — and then the year ; as, 
" I Jan., 1 88 1." And John was frequently written 
*'Jno.," and other names were abbreviated in like 
manner. 

The writing of a letter completed, it was folded and 
sealed as neatly and expeditiously as it was written. 
He turned the sheet round, so that its right-hand 
edge should be towards him ; doubled over about one- 
third of the width of the first leaf ; doubled this upon 
itself, bringing the farther edge of the folded part 
near the back of the sheet ; then the lower end of 
the sheet was slipped round, and folded to the proper 
width ; then it was whirled end for end, for the 
doubling of the upper portion in the same way ; and, 
after one more turning, it was twice folded again, from 
back to front, giving the letter its proper form ; each 
folded edge being nicely and solidly smoothed as he 
proceeded, with the back of the right thumb-nail, — 
that thumb-nail being so often brought into the same 
service that one inexperienced observer was some- 
times apprehensive that it might be worn through ; 



INDUSTRY. 



93 



the thicker end was then inserted into the thinner, 
on the back side ; and the wafer (moistened from the 
mouth) slipped into its place, and pressed down with 
the ball of the thumb ; the superscription added, — 
and the missive was ready for the post-office. Doubt- 
less thousands of others folded a letter in about the 
same way, but these particulars are given as a matter 
of minor historical interest ; it being the fact, that the 
envelope revolution took place so far back in the past 
as to leave the present generation without the means 
of knowing how their fathers prepared their letters for 
the mail. 

And yet it is scarcely proper to say that letter- 
writing constituted a principal part of the business 
of his life. He always had some more solid work on 
his hands. The writing of letters, either of business 
or friendship, necessarily consumes time ; but it does 
not draw upon the nervous power like the labor that 
must be done in the production of a volume. A let- 
ter may be completed in an hour or two, and then 
dismissed from the mind ; but the preparation of a 
work like Belknap's " History of New Hampshire," 
or the " Genealogical Register of the First Settlers of 
New England," requires vigorous and continued exer- 
cise of the mental powers. It is an undertaking that 
must weigh heavily upon the brain for weeks and 
months, and probably much of the time in the night 
as well as during the day. 




XII. 

IN A NEW PLACE. 

T this point in the sketch now given of Dr. 
U Farmer, it ought to be mentioned that he 
^^ did not always remain in his modest quar- 
ters in the apothecary estabhshment. I returned to 
Concord after an absence of three years, not far 
from the beginning of 1 829 ; and my former intimacy 
with my early friend was immediately recommenced. 
This date marks the commencement of a new period 
in the personal history of Dr. Farmer ; although it is 
to be confessed, that some of the circumstances al- 
ready narrated took place subsequently to the above 
date. 

We have henceforth a new view of his whole man- 
ner of life. He was in a situation hitherto entirely 
unfamiliar to him, both as regards the employment of 
his time, and the sources of his income. 

The copartnership of Morrill & Farmer had been 
dissolved ; their business had been discontinued ; si- 



IN A NEW PLACE. 95 

lence reigned in the chamber over the store where 
for years such quantities of drugs had been dispensed 
to the people, for weal or for woe, and where so much 
had been done by the doctor's pen for nothing but 
the highest good of mankind ; and other men had as- 
sumed the responsibility of furnishing the community 
with things thought needful for their bodily ailments. 
And about this period it was that Concord " Street " 
began rapidly to put on a more modern appearance. 
The blessed old wooden buildings in which the fathers 
had lived and traded and labored were disappearing, 
— being taken to pieces, or "retired" to more obscure 
locahties. Brick blocks were raising their lofty forms, 
and looking down, as if in scorn, upon the humbler 
structures that remained standing around them, monu- 
ments of the work of the generation just passing off 
the stage. And sooner or later the tide of enterprise 
was to sweep away the old store, and the mansion be- 
neath whose roof the doctor had so long enjoyed a 
quiet home, and around both of which clustered so 
many inspiring associations. 

Possibly these proceedings and tendencies of the 
advancing age might have been distasteful to him 
whose mind was so constantly occupied with the 
things of the past, and whose reverence for the old 
would naturally overbalance his love for the new. 
Perhaps he wished to escape from the confusion that 



96 MEMOIR OF JOHN FARMER. 

was increasing around him, and to find superior 
advantages for reflection and study in a situation of 
greater retirement. 

He had left Main Street. He was no longer an 
inmate of Gen. Low's hospitable home. Now his 
boarding-place was on State Street, west side, about 
midway between School and Pleasant, in the agreeable 
family of Stephen P. Breed. He occupied the front 
room of the north end, upon the lower floor of the 
house. His bed was in the south-west corner, his 
books were arranged upon the wall next the street, 
his table stood in the centre ; upon the north side 
there was an open fireplace, and during the winter 
months he warmed himself by a visible, cheery blaze. 

No longer surrounded by medicine drawers and 
bottles and jars, no longer breathing an atmosphere 
in which were mingled a thousand different odors, he 
was in a condition much more suitable to the char- 
acter and habits of the refined literary man that 
he was. 

He was now better situated for receiving visitors 
than before. The clergymen of Concord and vicinity, 
and prominent men from all parts of the State, were 
frequently in his company ; and the conversation was 
always of a dignified and instructive character, ran- 
ging through the whole field of literature, science, and 
history. Representatives and senators, judges and 



ATTENTION TO YOUNG MEN. 97 

governors, often found it convenient to make him a 
call ; and the young men, from whom he never 
turned away when they needed advice or assistance, 
were almost daily receiving his attentions. 

It was about this time (1829 or 1830), that a num- 
ber of young men united in forming the " Concord 
Lyceum." This made work for the doctor. He 
often corrected the compositions of the members, 
sometimes suggested subjects of discussion; and his 
influence did much to sustain its existence and use- 
fulness. If any of us wished to know what king of 
England, or of almost any other country, reigned when 
any particular event or change took place, he could 
tell us. If we wanted help in arranging a difficult 
sentence, he could give it. If any principle in natu- 
ral or moral philosophy required elucidation, he was 
ready to satisfy our minds in regard to it. So far 
was he from deeming it a hardship to receive calls and 
appHcations for assistance from his young friends, 
that he evidently would have felt it to be a privation 
not to be thus noticed. Of one young man, who had 
become less frequent in his calls than formerly, he 
once said, " I fear I am losing my hold upon him ; " 
the expression being accompanied with some appear- 
ance of regret. 

He was a natural teacher. At his new boarding- 
place, for a considerable time, he had his niece Miss 



98 MEMOIR OF JOHN FARMER. 

Riddle of Merrimack under his instruction ; thus aid- 
ing her in pursuing her education. So well did he 
love the practice of teaching, and so earnestly did he 
desire to see improvement in his young acquaintances, 
that, when one of them called upon him, he would 
sometimes give variety to the interview by taking a 
book, and saying, " Let us parse a little ; " or he would 
introduce some other school exercise, with the same 
end in view. ^ 

The ways were innumerable in which he could show 
a perfectly unselfish spirit. He had no disposition 
to monopolize the vocation of the historian. When 
I was residing for a time in a distant town, he made 
some effort to induce me to prepare a historical sketch 
of the place. He gave me a list of heads under 
which the various portions of the narrative should be 
arranged ; such as. Topography, First Settlers, etc. 
But I had no leisure for the work, and it was never 
done. 

I was not, however, remarkable for modesty in say-, 
ing what I thought I could do. In conversation at a 
certain time, I expressed the belief that I could write 
a sermon. " Well," said the doctor, " I will give you 
a text;" and it was this: Mic. vi. 6-%, especially 
the first part of the sixth, together with the eighth 
verse, — " Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, 
and bow myself before the high God t — He hath 



ANECDOTES. 99 

showed thee, O man, what is good ; and what doth the 
Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love 
mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God ? " But 
from indolence, pressure of business, or most likely 
because I " had not a mind to," the sermon was never 
produced. 

While at Mr. Breed's, the Rev. Moses G. Thomas, 
pastor of the Unitarian church, was his fellow-boarder 
for a longer or shorter period. Their conversations 
were frequent, and much enjoyed on both sides. 
And here an anecdote cornes in place, which was 
related by the doctor with an unusual degree of ani- 
mation. In the course of his ministerial duties, the 
Rev. Mr. Thomas exchanged pulpits on a certain 
sabbath with the Rev. Thomas Worcester of Salis- 
bury. He came to remain from Saturday afternoon 
till Monday morning. At tea-time (I think it was) 
he took his place at the table, with the family, and 
possibly several boarders : the divine blessing was 
implored with all solemnity, and all was progressing 
with quietness and decorum. But, as soon as the 
reverend and venerable gentleman began to eat, a 
thought struck him seemingly with much force.: he 
exclaimed, " Oh, I forgot I had a piece of Mrs. Worces- 
ter s cheese in my trunk!'' and he abruptly left the 
table, ran up-stairs, and quickly re-appeared with the 
cheese in his hand. In telling this little incident, 



lOO MEMOIR OF JOHN FARMER. 

the doctor came as near to a full-voiced laugh as in 
any case I can remember. 

He once had a serious illness at the house of his 
friend Hon. Jacob B. Moore. In speaking of it a 
few years afterwards, he paid a high compliment to 
one of the New-Hampshire clergymen who happened 
to call upon him. He said he was quite disheartened, 
and apprehensive that his end was near. The old 
gentleman (it was the Rev. John H. Church, D.D., 
of Pelham) came into the room smiling, and appear- 
ing to be in the best of spirits. His experienced eye 
discovered at once that the sick man needed the 
medicine of cheerful looks and words, and he acted 
accordingly. When the doctor expressed his fear 
that the disease then upon him was going to prove 
fatal, he tried to persuade him to the contrary, and 
said, " I hope you will recover : you are going to do 
a great deal of good in the world yet. We shall want 
you for secretary of the New- Hampshire Missionary 
Society ;'' the idea being about enough to make the 
doctor himself smile. This sunny greeting and as- 
suring conversation had a beneficial effect, and caused 
the doctor to cherish a high opinion of his clerical 
visitor. He never approved of any assumed solem- 
nity, in tone or manner, on the part of a gospel 
minister. 



XIII. 

REMOVALS. — LETTERS. 

UT the doctor makes another removal. 



yEDl^ Perhaps in 1832 it was that he returned 
K/^-^M^ to Main Street, North End, and became a 
boarder with the Misses McClary. He was now 
quite as retired as before, but still he was fully as 
far from being alone : his friends knew where to 
find him, and they were never more cordially wel- 
comed. And he was still the same indefatigable 
worker. His bed was again in the room where his 
labors were performed, and that circumstance may 
be held accountable for my recollection of an inci- 
dent which shows that there was a vein of sportive- 
ness about him which had not yet been exhausted. 
He was one day taking an after-dinner nap. He lay 
with his face towards the wall. I sat in the room 
with him, reading or writing. By and by the sleeper 
began to stir. He partly turned, and said, ''Wouldn't 
you like a swarm of beesV A little at a loss what 
to say, — for the thought came to my mind in an in- 



102 MEMOIR OF JOHN FARMER. 

stant, that a swarm of bees would be an elephant on 
my hands, — I ventured to answer, " I don't know but 
I would : where are your bees ? " — " Here," was the 
reply in rather a sleepy tone. I began to say to my- 
self, " Well, the doctor is out of his head for once in 
his life ; " but he relieved me of my bewilderment, 
and set me to laughing at the same time, by reaching 
out his hand, and giving me a scrap which he had 
cut from a newspaper, with the title, "A Swarm of 
B's." Some of the B's were, " Be patient, Be gentle, 
Be kind," and so on to the end of a very instructive 
little chapter. 

In the midst of all his engagements, Dr. Farmer 
had an eye upon the moral and religious condition of 
the place in which he lived. The cause of tem- 
perance, in all its phases, had a full share of his 
solicitude ; and when he saw the people going to 
extremes in any of their social enjoyments, it caused 
him real uneasiness. While living at the North End, 
he spoke at one time with much feeling of evening par- 
tieSy — their frequency, their expense, their tendency 
to foster dissipation of mind, the lateness of the 
hours to which those attending them were kept away 
from their homes, and the undesirable effects of them 
in the general view ; and one of the ideas which he 
mentioned in particular was, that they interfei'ed with 
those religious dtities which in every family ought to 



LAST REMOVAL. IO3 

commence and close the labors of the day. And he 
expressed the wish that the attention of the com- 
munity might be called to the subject in the religious 
paper. He proposed to furnish the plan, if I would 
fill it out. The proposal was accepted ; and there 
appeared in "The New-Hampshire Observer" as 
many as a dozen articles under the caption, " Even- 
ing Parties," in which the said parties were treated 
in no commendatory manner. 

But by and by the good man makes one more re- 
moval, prior to that last one that in a few years he 
was to make to " the undiscovered country from 
whose bourne no traveller returns." This time he 
turned his back upon the noise and dust, and found 
a home two miles from the middle of the town, upon 
the main road leading in a westerly direction, in the 
quiet and capacious residence of Mrs. Daniel Clark. 
Here he had the privilege of feeling that he was in 
the country. He could look out upon the fields, 
woods, and hills, stretching far away towards the 
south, east, and west. He breathed an atmosphere 
perfumed with the odors of many a green tree and 
many a sweet flower. His ears were saluted by the 
songs of the birds. In the bright summer day he 
could walk in the fields laden with the new-mown 
grass, and enjoy to' the full the presence of nature 
unshorn of its beauties by the inventions of man. 



I04 MEMOIR OF JOHN FARMER. 

How much he was able to avail himself of the out- 
of-door advantages which surrounded him, or how 
often his devotion to his books would allow him to 
do so, I cannot tell. His shoulders were becoming 
a little more rounded than formerly, and the lines of 
care and toil deeper in his face ; and, if memory does 
not deceive me, gray hairs were showing themselves 
upon his head. 

But the time had now come for us to separate. 
New engagements called me away from the place. 
We never met but once or twice more. The last 
time I ever pressed his loving hand was after we had 
been taking a ride as far as the street. He appeared 
then quite well. I thought I was going to see him 
many times more, but his end was not far off. Most 
of the following letters, however, were written pre- 
vious to our last meeting. 

Here is one written very soon after my removal 
from Concord : — 

Concord, i8 Sept., 1834. 

My Friend J., — It occurred to me the other day that I 
owed you the postage of a letter, and I take this method to 
pay it. It slipped my mind when you were about leaving. 
But I cannot promise you any thing more than the paper 
itself, having been altogether incapacitated for writing by 
sickness, and now not in a fit conditioia to sit up at my desk ; 
so I take my paper on my arm-chair, and may scribble until 
I am tired. 



LETTERS. 105 

My illness commenced on the 5 th, the day previous to 
which I received a visit from my Nashua friends Mr. and 
Mrs. Spalding and their son, and Miss Kendall of Amherst. 
They remained with me (that is, remained in town ; for they 
put up at the Eagle), and were very kind in their attentions, 
during the 5th and until the morning of the 6th, when they 
returned home. Within a few days I was able to sit up, and 
walk into the other part of the house, and yesterday rode 
out, but am not able to perform any great feats of strength. 
But I have abundant reason to thank Him, in whom we have 
all that we enjoy in Hfe, and place all our hopes for a happy 
existence hereafter, for the measure of strength imparted, 
and relief from the pains experienced. Our aid under such 
trials must always be derived from Him. 

You are now probably well settled at your studies, and 
are enjoying the pleasures of retirement, and the benefits 
which books can confer, and the instructions of a devoted 
minister of the gospel. I heard from you verbally by Mr. 
Chadwick, who saw Mr. Stone at Meredith, and learnt that 
your health was good. I hope you will continue to enjoy 
as much ; but, in order to do it, you must remember to take 
a due share of exercise. The haj'vest is not past, and in the 
labors of that you may delight to participate. It is generally 
a season of gladness, of joy, ajjd should be of devout aspira- 
tions of gratitude to Him who giveth us all things liberally 
to enjoy. I remember the enjoyments of gathering the 
products of autumn Sy the harvest moon ; and it was no 
unusual thing to collect on the green in large parties, to 



I06 MEMOIR OF JOHN FARMER. 

prepare these products for winter storage, and this done in 
the bright evenings of autumn. 

The meetings at Meredith are spoken of as being highly 
interesting. I hope the remarks of Dr. Matheson on the 
subject of slavery will not be lost on the numerous clergy- 
men who were present. It is a subject which must more 
engage the attention of the messengers of glad tidings than 
it ever has yet done. Ministers must not be afraid to speak 
and to preach on the subject. Slavery is one of the greatest 
national sins, and it cannot much longer remain unpunished. 
Even Jefferson, a slaveholder, said he trembled for his coun- 
try when he reflected that God was just. I have sometimes 
queried in my mind, if our Saviour were again to appear 
on earth, and should make our country the scene of his mis- 
sion, what portion of our extended territory he would first 
visit, and what the first people to whom he would proclaim 
peace and good will towards men. Would he not first visit 
the captive ? Would he not command that every yoke should 
be broken, that the poor and ignorant slave should be set free 
and enlightened? Would he not reprove some of his her- 
alds for their apathy — nay, for their wickedness — in saying, 
"Touch not the subject of slavery : they have slaves at the 
South ; let the South take care of their slaves "? Now, this 
has been actually said by professed Christians, and ministers 
of the gospel. Let this course be adopted, and how long 
would it be before the sin of slavery should cease ? This may 
be a good subject for one of the " Letters from the Moun- 
tains," which I hope will be forthcoming soon. You see, my 



LETTERS. 



107 



paper is exhausted ; so I must conclude with assurances of 
my friendship, and my sincere hopes of your improvement 
in every thing good. 

Your friend, 

JOHN FARMER. 

It cannot be denied, that, in the above epistle, there 
is a large amount of energy displayed by the writer, 
for an invalid. In relation to the great evil of slavery, 
it exhibits the righteous indignation of a man who 
never uttered a sentiment which he did not feel. That 
was a subject in regard to which he could not sup- 
press his convictions. In the letters which follow, he 
expresses the same feelings. They give some true 
idea of the severity of the conflict that preceded the 
final overthrow of the slave system in our country. 
And yet we may well bear in mind, that at that time, 
and during the years that followed, many things were 
said and done, in opposition to the anti-slavery enter- 
prise, which are now regretted by all. Here is his 
next : — 

Concord, N.H., 6 Nov., 1834. 

My dear J., — Yours of the 29th ult. was handed me 
last evening. It affords me great pleasure to learn that your 
health is so good, and that you reahze such a share of en- 
joyment, both temporal and spiritual. May these blessings 
long continue, and may warm aspirations of gratitude ascend 
to Him who in judgment remembers mercy I 



I08 MEMOIR OF JOHN FARMER. 

I directed to you an " Observer " on which I wrote some- 
thing, and the packet has long lain in my window for an 
opportunity to send ; but I now substitute another paper, 
containing No. 13 of" Evening Parties." 

You speak of having an Anti-Slavery Society in Campton, 
and I hope you will send delegates to our convention next 
week. We are expecting several gentlemen of distinction 
from abroad. I received, last Saturday, a letter from the 
distinguished philanthropist George Thompson, from Lon- 
don, who will, with permission of Divine Providence, be 
with us, although he was engaged at Providence on the 14th. 
He is greatly dehghted with the abolition feeling which is 
abroad over the land. He says, — 

" You have begiin well. All will work well while principle 
is the guide. Never let us be induced, from any consideration, 
to adopt that doctrine of devils, — expediency. While we 
tread the straight line oi principle., the shield of the Almighty is 
over us, and our triumph will be glorious." 

While in Maine he attended the convention at Augusta, 
lectured once at Hallowell, twice at Brunswick, three times 
at Portland, and delivered about half a dozen addresses. 
His interview with the students at Waterville, where he also 
lectured, was peculiarly gratifying, and especially on account 
that they all were abolitionists. At Brunswick a good por- 
tion were in favor of anti- slavery principles, and the leaven 
was diffusing itself rapidly. 

The advice of Dr. Matheson at Meredith is beginning to 
operate ; and I was surprised and gratified in seeing this day, 



LETTERS. 



109 



in yesterday's "Boston Patriot," a letter addressed by a 
number of worthy citizens of that city to Mr. Lawrence, who 
is a candidate for member of Congress, and calHng upon him 
for an expression of his views in relation to the evils of 
slavery. His reply is also published, and is all that aboli- 
tionists could wish. A person's principles in regard to 
slavery will by and by become the great test as to the choice 
of members of Congress in the non-slaveholding States, and 
especially with Christians, who have too long manifested 
great apathy in the choice of our rulers. Why is it that we 
have so many infidels and immoral characters for our rulers ? 
Is it not because Christians have aided by their votes in 
their elevation? If a candidate was only of the right kind 
of politics, no matter whether he were an infidel or deist. 
You have seen something of this kind of feeling in Concord. 

I am happy to learn from some gentlemen I lately saw, 
that your Rev. Brother Stone is favorably disposed to the 
anti-slavery cause. To this result we must all come, al- 
though the process is longer with some than others. To 
those who fully believe that the laws of God are para- 
mount to the laws of man, the process is a short and easy 
one. "We ought to obey God rather than man." (Acts 
v. 29.) 

In regard to religious prospects, an effort is now making 
to excite the attention of the church in this place. It is said 
that there has seldom been so much want of religious feeling 

here since Mr. B 's settlement, as at this time. Meetings 

are taking place throughout the town, and to-morrow there 



no MEMOIR OF JOHN FARMER. 

is to be a meeting through the day at the M. H. ; and next 
week there is to be a protracted meeting in the West Parish. 
You will present my respects to Mr. Stone, and in return to 

the kind remembrance of Mrs. Le B , to her also, with 

a wish that your happiness may continue. 

With sincere regards I remain your friend, 

JOHN FARMER. 

P. S. Write as often as you can. 




XIV. 

LETTERS. — ANTI-SLAVERY. 
GAIN he writes under the date of 

rA3 Concord, 24 Jan., 1835. 

%mO!^' My dear J., — I often wish that the communica- 
tion between this place and C was more frequent, as in 

that case, if I did not write, I would endeavor to send you 
something equivalent to a letter ; and I should hope also to 
receive more frequent communications from you. Your last 
letter gave me much pleasure, as did also the call of Rev. 
Mr. Stone, from whom I had such pleasing intelligence con- 
cerning you, — of your progress in your studies, of your 
personal quiet and happiness. Your " No. III." of " Letters 
from the Mountains " was also valuable, and I will inform 
you how I have disposed of that and the preceding num- 
bers. "No. I." was handed to "The Observer," and met 
with an immediate insertion. " No. II." touched upon the 
subject of slavery ; and having been in the hands of the 
editors about six weeks, and not published, I withdrew it, 
and presented it to "The Abolitionist," where it was in- 
serted in tne first number of that paper. In order to save 
harmless " The Observer," by adding any explanatory note, 



1 1 2 MEMOIR OF JOHN FARMER. 

I called " No. II." "No. I." when published in "The Abo- 
litionist," and "No. III." will be "No. II." I hope you 
will continue the series, and send a number for every num- 
ber of the paper ; and now you need not fear to touch 
upon the subject of slavery, as we have a paper in which 
discussion is admitted. This prohibition of discussion was 
to me a cause of deep regret. It was so to many others, 
and I presume it was to you. It is not in agreement with 
the principles of Protestantism. Our Puritan fathers would 
be unwilling to acknowledge some of their time-serving pos- 
terity. "Discussion," say the students of Lane Seminary, — 
the " Expose " of whom I hope you will read, — "is the 
standard test for the detection of fallacies and the revelation 
of truth. It is the furnace where gold and alloy separate. 
It is the fan which drives the chaff and wheat asunder. It 
is the court of errors, where the decisions of individual 
tribunals are reversed or confirmed. In the search after 
truth, can we dispense with such aid, when available, and 
be guiltless?" 

The new paper in behalf of abolition, which has lately 
commenced here, will need writers, and will need pa- 
tronage, in order to be sustained. Will not our friends at 
C do something? Cannot you obtain ten or twelve sub- 
scribers? Try and see. An account of your Anti-Slavery 
Society is wanted, with the names of the officers. I have 
on hand a few copies of the proceedings of our convention, 
and address to the people of New Hampshire on the subject 
of slavery in the District of Columbia, which I wish to send 



LETTERS. 113 

you. Direct some of your C friends coming to this 

place, to call on me for them. 

You speak of those papers I put into your hands before 
you left Concord. Give yourself no uneasiness about them. 
Unless I send you others connected with them, they will 
appear as unintelligible to you as some of your first lessons 
in Euclid or the Greek grammar. 

I am informed that there is some attention to religion in 

our village. This is the fourteenth day of a meeting holden 

every evening at the town hall, where various neighboring 

ministers have officiated. Gov. Morrill seems to be much 

engaged. There is also a protracted evening meeting at the 

schoolhouse near Mrs. Clark's, on the Hopkinton road. 

Let me hear from you oftener than of late, and be assured I 

have the warmest wishes for your happiness and usefulness, 

and remain your friend, 

JOHN FARMER. 

My respects to Mr. S and your wife. 

Again he writes : — 

Concord, 10 June, 1835. 

,My dear Friend, — Your old instructor has not forgotten 
you, but thinks of you almost daily, if not every day ; and it 
was with no small degree of pleasure that he found, from 
your letter of the 28th ult., that he himself was not forgotten 
by his affectionate and well-beloved pupil. My silence has 
been principally owing to various duties which have crowded 
upon me. As corresponding secretary of three distinct 
societies, I have much gratuitous labor to perform, and 



114 MEMOIR OF JOHN FARMER. 

some of my friends do not receive so many letters from me 
as they would if these societies were like some which have 
corresponding secretaries ; but they all have work for this 
officer to do, and it must be done within a certain time. 
Notwithstanding my silence, I remember my friends. I 
delight to call them to mind, and to enjoy the reveries their 
recollection affords. 

You would have been much gratified in attending the 
annual meeting of the New-Hampshire Anti-Slavery Society, 
to witness the warmth of feeling and the breathings of benevo- 
lence for those in chains, and groping in moral and intellect- 
ual darkness. The whole proceedings you will see in the next 
number of "The Herald of Freedom," from the pen of Mr. 
Kimball, who is now a boarder in our family. A great effort 
has been made here, to prop up the colonization cause ; and 
the friends of it were excited to action by the presence of 
Mr. Gurley, the general secretary at Washington. He took 
part in the discussion on Friday evening, lectured on Satur- 
day evening, preached on sabbath afternoon and evening, 
and lectured again on Monday evening, when he received, 
as auxiliaries, Samuel Cushman, Joseph Robinson, and Gov. 
Morrillj who all spoke ; and with all these efforts, I under- 
stand, about three hundred dollars were pledged. Now, mark 
the difference. The Anti-Slavery Society at their meeting 
on Friday evening, in the course of fifteen or twenty min- 
utes, raised the sum of five hundred twenty-six dollars ; or 
that amount was pledged for the general objects of the so- 
ciety. It will doubtless be applied to the objects of an 
agency, on which Mr. Storrs will be appointed. 



LETTERS. 115 

Col. Baker, who delivered me your letter, appears to be 
an intelligent man and a stanch abolitionist. I am in hopes 
he will call again ; as I wish to make inquiry respecting the 
prospects in your quarter, and whether you need an agent 
to visit you. Mr. Storrs was our delegate at New York on 
the 1 2th, and at Boston on the 25th. He is now attending 
the New-England Conference at Lynn, in which, last week, 
an anti-slavery society was formed, and forty ministers had 
signed the constitution on Friday last. 

The improvements going on in Concord, the present sea- 
son, would somewhat astonish you. I hope you will come 
and see us this summer. If you cannot, you must favor me 
with your letters somewhat oftener. If you should have any 
thing like an original hymn or ode, suitable for the annual 
meeting of the Concord Anti-Slavery Society, to be on the 
4th prox., it will be acceptable. 

With regards to your family and Mr. S., 
I remain your friend, 

JOHN FARMER. 

26 June. I have delayed sending this letter till this time. 
I would remark that the day of fasting and prayer in behalf 
of the slaves throughout the United States was observed in 
this place yesterday. Mr. Storrs gave an excellent discourse 
from Matt. xvii. 20. We are thinking of an anti-slavery 
hymn-book, to contain pieces suitable to be sung at the 
monthly concert, last Monday of each month ; and I will 
thank > ou to write one or more, and also to prepare an 



Il6 MEMOIR OF JOHN FARMER. 

anthem, — that is, fix some suitable words of Scripture to 
some approved piece of music. 

Yours as before, 

J. F. 

These letters were written in one of the most stir- 
ring periods of our country's history. The great 
battle was well begun which ended in the emancipa- 
tion of four millions of enslaved men, women, and chil- 
dren. Only those who lived during the long struggle 
can form any proper judgment of the amount of 
wrangling and bitterness by which it was character- 
ized. It seems almost strange that a man like Dr. 
Farmer, mild, candid, dispassionate, as he was, should 
have been so enthusiastically engaged in it ; but all 
is explained by the simple fact that it was a contest 
for justice and mercy that was going on. It was his 
conscience that was doing its work. 

The men whose names he mentions as being on 
what he esteemed the wrong side of the great ques- 
tion, were good men. He admitted them to be such. 
He had no gnashing of teeth for them. He only 
meant to adhere firmly to the right. We may be 
thankful that the time has arrived when a better 
understanding prevails in regard to these matters of 
national and world-wide importance. 

It may not be out of place to remark, that George 
Thompson, Esq., of London, Eng., and Rev. R. R. 



LETTERS. 117 

Gurley of Washington, D.C., of whom Dr. Farmer 
speaks, were not only men of the highest character 
otherwise, but also among the most distinguished ora- 
tors of the two hemispheres. Each of them pleaded 
his cause in a manner that was truly magnificent. 
Whether Dr. Farmer ever listened to the eloquence 
of either, I do not know ; but he probably admired 
them both, while he agreed with the one, and differed 
from the other. 

A few months after the reception of the last of the 
above letters, I removed to another place, and to a 
situation of increased responsibility and labor ; and 
then, after a little more than another year, I found 
myself in Massachusetts, with still heavier burdens 
upon me ; and I fear I began to be inexcusably neg- 
lectful of my correspondence with the friend who 
never knew when to cease showing kindness to me. 
To that place came the last letter I ever received from 
him, which is as follows : — 

Concord, 3 July, 1837. 

My dear Friend, — Yours of the 23d was delivered to 
me the day of its date. It was welcome, but much more 
welcome would have been the hand that wrote it ; yet I can 
excuse you for not calling, as your calls were imperious. It 
is more than a year since I saw you ; and, until your late letter, 
it was a long time since I had heard from you. I rejoice in 
all your prosperity, and feel happy in learning that the sphere 



I 1 8 MEMOIR OF JOHN FARMER. 

of your usefulness is enlarged ; that you are in your native 
State, and near the residence of your early ancestors. Our 
dear old Massachusetts, after all, is entitled to our highest 
regard ; and notwithstanding some faults, and something that 
we could wish were otherwise, we can with ardor exclaim, 
" We love her still I " You will, I imagine, find more con- 
genial society where you now are than you could expect at 

D ; and you will be in the neighborhood of ministers of 

the gospel, with whom to associate must be one of the high- 
est delights of this sublunary state. You will, I doubt not, 
use that prudence and circumspection in your intercourse 
with them, which your experience and a due regard to your 
usefulness and reputation will naturally suggest ; and among 
your people you will find a great call for prudence. There 
have been some eminent men settled in the ministry in 
Stoneham ; and I recollect of once seeing a sermon of Rev. 
John Searl, who was regarded as fond of metaphysical inves- 
tigation. He was settled first as the second minister of 
Sharon, Conn., in August, 1749, but was dismissed on ac- 
count of feeble health in 1754. He, however, recovered his 
health, and was installed at Stoneham, where he lived to an 
advanced age. Dr. Dwight informs us in his travels, that 
Mr. Searl and Judge Noble were the first persons who ever 
went to the top of Saddle Motmtain, which is considered 
the highest mountain in Massachusetts. Thus much for one 
of your predecessors. It may be well for you to collect 
some account of all the ministers who have been settled 
there, and communicate it to " The New-England Specta- 



ANTI-SLAVERY. 



119 



tor," or "Boston Recorder." I am, perhaps, quite as 
desirous that important facts should be preserved for suc- 
ceeding generations since I have been so deeply immersed 
in the old papers in the secretary's office [of state] as I was 
before. I have, to my sorrow, seen the loss of many valu- 
able documents which would be highly useful in illustrating 
the early events in our country's history. 

But I cannot enlarge, as I must say a word on anti- 
slavery. It was the remark of a good old Puritan minister, 
that he wished to sweeten his mouth daily with a little of 
Calvin ; so, in Hke manner, do I find it comfortable for me 
to dip a little into anti-slavery. The cause is onward, not- 
withstanding all the obstacles thrown in the way to oppose 
it. Those very obstacles add to its momentum. In this 
State, there is much latent abolition, which will soon be called 
into action. "The Herald" has been doing good, and it 
has brought many into the light : but I lament to inform 
you its talented and accomphshed editor [Mr. Rogers] is 
now languishing on the bed of sickness ; and it is not at all 
probable that he will be at present, if ever, able to resume 
his useful labors. He is one of a thousand, if not ten thou- 
sand. I know not any one who can fill his place. The 
Ladies' Society here are sending out petitions to every town 
in the State. They are before us men in the good cause ; 
and I know not [but] that the world would go on better if 
Miss Martineau's principles of the rights of women (see the 
chapter on the "Pohtical Non-Existence of Women," in her 
new work " Society in America ") should be received, and 
carried out. 



120 MEMOIR OF JOHN FARMER. 

To-morrow our national independence is to be celebrated 
by the young men on one part, and by the Sunday school 
and friends of temperance on the other part. For me, I 
think with Garrison, — 

"We'll not discourse of British wrong, 
Of valorous feats in arms by freemen bold, 
Nor spit on kings, nor tauntingly call names j 
But we will fall upon our bended knees. 
And weep in bitterness of heart, and pray 
Our God to save us from his gathering wrath : 
We will no longer multiply our boasts 
Of liberty, till we are truly free." 

Remember your old friend, and remember him to your 
wife and family. That the blessing of God may be with you, 
is my fervent prayer. 

Yours, 

J. FARMER. 

I have not failed to reflect that it is something like 
unfairness to the departed, to publish their letters, 
which were written in the haste of private correspond- 
ence, and in which they freely express their opinions, 
without the remotest thought of their being exposed 
to any other eye than that of the recipient ; but an- 
other reflection is, that Dr. Farmer would have been 
the last man to wish to conceal his views of any sub- 
ject whatever. 

Mr. Rogers (N. P.), mentioned in the above letter, 
was at the time extremely unpopular with many ex- 



ANTI-SLA VER V. j 2 1 

cellent people. He was a man of high cultivation, 
and genial and attractive manners, a gifted attorney- 
at-law, a gentleman in any society, — precisely the man 
we should not expect to see contending for the rights 
of the down-trodden slave. He married a sister of 
the wife of George Kent, Esq., and was often a visitor 
at the house of the latter gentleman in Concord ; Mr. 
Kent being a man of the same stamp, and equally well 
disposed towards the anti-slavery enterprise. When 
he visited Concord, in the first years of his connec- 
tion with the church, he attended the prayer-meeting 
with his brother-in-law, if that meeting occurred dur- 
ing his stay in the place ; and my pleasant recollection 
of him there is as a humble Christian gentleman, 
particularly arresting my youthful attention by spread- 
ing his handkerchief upon the dirty floor of the old 
town-house, to kneel upon when he led in prayer. 

He came down from Plymouth, and took up his 
residence in Concord, during the heat of the anti- 
slavery controversy, and became editor of " The Her- 
ald of Freedom." I am pained to say, — and I say it 
with becoming tenderness, remembering that he can- 
not now make any defence of himself, — that he 
thought he saw in the Church that (in relation to 
slavery) which warranted him in withdrawing from 
it ; and that he was led to express himself many times 
in an extremely harsh and uncharitable manner. Nor 



122 MEMOIR OF JOHN FARMER. 

would I by any means justify all that was done, or 
left undone, in the Church in those exciting and try- 
ing times. 

But Dr. Farmer thought, that, though it were wrong 
to speak or act against the Churchy it was equally so 
to speak or diCtfor slavery : therefore he did not turn 
against the Church, nor against his friend Rogers. 
However much he might value the friendship of 
others, he held in the highest esteem Mr. Rogers, 
Mr. Garrison, Wendell Phillips, and the anti-slavery 
leaders and laborers generally. 



XV. 



LABORS.— LAST DAYS. 




HAVE -before spoken of the immense 
amount of labor performed by Dr. Farmer, 
and I feel unwilling to draw these reminis- 
cences to a close without presenting some general 
view of his published and unpublished works. The 
following summary was given by Rev. Dr. Bouton in 
his discourse preached at the funeral of Dr. Farmer, 
and was also contained in the sketch of him, written 
soon after his death, by Hon. Jacob B. Moore. In the 
fewest words it is as here given : — 

Historical Sketch of Billerica, Mass. ; Historical 
Sketch of Amherst, N.H. ; A Family Register of the 
Descendants of Edward Farmer of Billerica, Mass., 
in the Youngest Branch of his Family ; A Topo- 
graphical and Historical Description of the County 
of Hillsborough, N. H. ; An Ecclesiastical Regis- 
ter of New Hampshire, containing a Succinct Ac- 
count of the Different Religious Denominations, their 
Origin, Progress, and Numbers in 1821, with a Cata- 



124 MEMOIR OF JOHN FARMER. 

logue of the Ministers of the Several Churches from 
1638 to 1821; The New Mihtary Guide, a Com- 
pilation of Rules and Regulations for the Use of the 
Militia ; A Gazetteer of New Hampshire, in con- 
junction with Hon. Jacob B. Moore ; Memoir of 
the Penacook Indians ; Catechism of the History 
of New Hampshire for Schools and Families ; The 
Concord Directory, 1830; Pastors, Deacons, and 
Members of the First Congregational Church, in 
Concord, N.H., from November, 1730, to Novem- 
ber, 1830; an edition of Mason on Self-Knowledge, 
with questions ; an edition of the Constitution of 
New Hampshire, with questions, for academies and 
schools ; a new edition of Belknap's History of New 
Hampshire, containing various corrections and illus- 
trations of the first and second volumes of Belknap, 
with additional facts and notices of persons and 
events ; seventeen volumes of the New-Hampshire 
Annual Register and United-States Calendar ; three 
volumes of Collections, Historical and Miscellaneous, 
in connection with J. B. Moore ; papers in the second 
and third series of the Massachusetts Historical Col- 
lections ; papers in five volumes of Collections of the 
New-Hampshire Historical Society; and papers in 
The American Quarterly Register as follows : sketches 
of the first graduates of Dartmouth College from 1771 
to 1783; list of the Congregational and Presbyterian 



LABORS. 125 

ministers of New Hampshire from its first settlement 
to 1 8 14; list of the graduates of all the colleges of 
New England, containing about nineteen thousand 
names ; list of eight hundred and forty deceased min- 
isters who graduated at Harvard College from 1642 
to 1826, together with their ages, dates of graduation, 
and decease ; memoirs of ministers who graduated at 
Harvard College to 1657. To all which may be added 
his "Genealogical Register of the First Settlers of 
New England," a work of immense labor, and intended 
to be carried out on a scale of the grandest dimen- 
sions. The title-page of one of the great historical 
works of Massachusetts, afterwards published, is in 
itself a comphment to the excellence of the work of 
Dr. Farmer, as also to the merit of its author. It is, 
" A Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of 
New England, on the basis of Farmer's Register, by 
James Savage." 

In manuscript he left a large mass of material for 
a second volume of the History of New Hampshire ; 
sketches more or less complete of deceased lawyers, 
physicians, councillors, and senators of New Hamp- 
shire ; extended tables of mortality and longevity ; 
list of the graduates of the colleges in New York and 
New Jersey, not complete ; ten bound volumes, duo- 
decimo, of memoirs of more than two thousand gradu- 
ates of Harvard College ; and two bound volumes, 



126 MEMOIR OF JOHN FARMER, 

same size, of memoirs of graduates of Dartmouth 
College; besides corrections and additions to almost 
all his published works, which might have been incor- 
porated in new editions. 

During the last part of his life he was occupied 
with the work committed to him by the Legislature of 
New Hampshire, of arranging, indexing, and prepar- 
ing for binding, the public papers of the State. Prob- 
ably no day-laborer was reduced to severer toil than 
he imposed upon himself while engaged in this work. 
He found the ancient records in great confusion. He 
arranged them in chronological order, put them into 
a condition for binding, copying many hundreds of 
pages ; so that in the archives of the State there are 
now more than a score of ponderous and elegantly 
bound volumes of these papers, which will be of great 
service to future generations, and for which they will 
be indebted to his industry and skill. 

In his message to the Legislature, June, 1837, Gov. 
Isaac Hill, who had been an intimate acquaintance 
and friend of Dr. Farmer for many years, makes the 
following remarks : — 

" Perhaps a century may occur before another person 
with the peculiar tact and talent of Mr. Farmer shall pre- 
sent to undertake this work. Although of extremely feeble 
health, there is not probably any other person in the State 
who can readily perform so much ; none so well versed in 



LABORS. 127 

its history, and who has, like him^ traced from the root up- 
wards the rise and progress of government in the land of 
the Pilgrims, and the origin and spread of every consider- 
able family name in New England." 

But any description of Dr. Farmer's labors must 
necessarily be quite imperfect. The work he did as 
a member of the publishing committee of the New- 
Hampshire Historical Society ; his annual reports of 
the various societies of which he was secretary, and 
keeping the records of those societies ; his contribu- 
tions to weekly and monthly publications ; and his 
voluminous correspondence, — these items, in addi- 
tion to the more extended and laborious undertakings 
of his life, show that he performed an amount of work 
that is truly astonishing. 

And all this must not imply that he was not a 
reader. The fact is, it implies the contrary. The old 
tan-colored volumes and pamphlets that he pored over 
for hours and days, and which in a measure furnished 
the pabulum that fed his prolific pen, deserve the 
name of legion ; not to say any thing of the current 
literature, to which he gave a due share of attention. 
He sent in every direction for books of a historical or 
biographical character. Even an antiquated almanac 
he regarded as a choice acquisition ; and how much 
pleasure it gave him to find a name or a date that 
was wanting to fill a vacant space in one of his cata- 



128 MEMOIR OF JOHN FARMER. 

logues or records, it would be difficult to tell. And 
in the same line of thought it is, to say that he ap- 
peared to have a real affection for the Latin names 
found in the college catalogues. It is pleasant to 
know that he found sc much of enjoyment in the 
midst of his toilsome career. It is also a gratifying 
fact that his eminent character and services were rec- 
ognized by his election to membership in the Royal 
Society of Northern Antiquaries at Copenhagen, and 
of the American Antiquarian Society ; as well as 
corresponding member of the Historical Societies of 
Massachusetts, Maine, Rhode Island, and New York. 

But it is impossible to find any thing agreeable in 
the fact, that, for all his hard work, he received but 
meagre compensation. He once alluded to this fact, 
evidently with some feeling of sadness. He said that 
for a considerable time his income had been scarcely 
equal to his expenses. It is not unreasonable to sup- 
pose, that, if he had been as laborious a writer of fic- 
tion as he was of solid and useful history, he might 
have approached the estate of a millionnaire. If he 
ever offered the prayer of Agur, it was answered : 
he knew not the inflictions of either poverty or riches. 

As I look back upon his life, I see a mild and pleas- 
ant light running through it all, — the light of a mod- 
est, uncomplaining laborer for God and man. It gives 
me pain to reflect that I was not sooner awakened to 



BEAUTY OF CHARACTER. 1 29 

a consciousness of having some knowledge of him 
that was worthy of being communicated to others. 
Many times since the dark curtain fell between him 
and me, have I wished I might enjoy the privilege of 
consulting him upon questions that were difficult for 
me to solve. I would go almost any distance, that I 
might be in his sunny presence, and enjoy an hour of 
conversation with him once more. I shall never for- 
get his fatherly affection, his sweetness of temper, his 
invariable superiority to self. But yesterday it seems, 
since he bent over me to see if I were taking due 
pains with my penmanship ; since he reminded me 
of my mistakes in grammar ; or, indeed, gave me just 
the kindest possible admonition concerning errors 
that were neither grammatical nor right in any sense 
whatever. 

I was not always careful of his valuable utensils. 
Who was it but me that gave the edge of his porce- 
lain mortar a stroke with the pestle intended to jar 
off the medicine that adhered to its sides, and saw the 
mortar ruined } who else that tried the experiment of 
going out of doors to scour his spatula, and left half 
of the blade in the ground } and who that tasted his 
tamarinds oftener than was in any wise necessary .? 
But, oh, I can to-day see that still placid countenance, 
marked with a slight shade of sorrow, which sent 
straight to my heart the severest rebuke I could have 
received ! 



I30 MEMOIR OF JOHN FARMER. 

One of his friends made him a present of an elegant 
inkstand, and a finely polished marble or soapstone 
ruler. As another friend was viewing and admiring 
the ruler, it dropped from his hand, and was in frag- 
ments ; and yet there was the same unruffled spirit, 
and the same kindly expression. There was the great 
marvel. 

Well enough he could see the sins and follies of 
others, but he uttered no harsh judgments. The 
strongest expression of dislike that ever fell from his 
lips in my hearing — nor am I able to recollect of 
what or whose performance it was uttered — was, 
" Vox et praeterea nihil." 

Years after my acquaintance with him began, it 
seemed to do him good to put into my hand a cluster 
of nice raisins that he had laid up in some safe place. 
When I was about visiting Boston, uninitiated in the 
intricacies and dangers of the great city, he was care- 
ful to give me a letter of introduction to a gentleman 
of his acquaintance (Francis Jackson, Esq.), which 
was a great benefit to me while there. His tender 
anxiety when I was sick and suffering, and his fatherly 
visit to my bedside at that gloomy period, will never 
be blotted from my memory or my heart. 

But the bright scenes are all past. Death overtook 
my old friend in the midst of his days, and with his 
work but half done ; but he had not been thoughtless 



LAST DA YS, 



131 



concerning the uncertainty of life. All letters of im- 
portance that he had received were found, after his 
decease, nicely arranged in packages, and directed, 
ready to be delivered to the writers. 

Suddenly fell the fatal stroke. His death was one 
of those events which almost unsettle our belief in a 
universal and unerring Providence. In the full tide 
of his usefulness, when he was never more valuable 
to his friends, and when his health was scarcely ever 
more firm, he was stricken down. 

So frequently had he been laid aside, that no alarm 
was felt when it became known that he was upon the 
bed of suffering ; but that he was sick unto death, 
was the announcement that quickly followed. The 
friends who had long enjoyed his confidence and 
affection hastened to his relief. Particularly the one 
who had never failed him in times of distress — Miss 
Catharine Kendall, afterwards Mrs. Steele — was there. 
To her he whispered his words of hope as he looked 
forward to immortality, leaning upon the arm of his 
Saviour. On the evening of his last sabbath, at his 
request, she sang in his failing ear a favorite hymn. 
His mind was clear to the last. He ceased to breathe 
at about six o'clock on Monday morning, Aug. 13, 
1838. 

At his funeral, a handsome tribute was paid to his 
character and memory by Rev. Nathaniel Bouton, 



132 MEMOIR OF JOHN FARMER. 

D.D., pastor of the First Congregational Church in 
Concord, who had long been one of his most intimate 
acquaintances. The house of worship was filled with 
attentive listeners, all classes deeming it a privilege 
to share in the honors paid to one whom none knew 
but to love. 

He had no companion or child to be laid by his 
side in the grave ; but the same tender affection 
which Gen. Joseph Low had so long cherished to- 
wards him, now provided his last resting-place. He 
was laid in the General's own family-lot, near the 
centre of the southern division of the old cemetery in 
Concord. The epitaph engraven upon the family 
monument — eastern face — thus reads : — 



EPITAPH. 133 



JOHN FARMER, 

©fell 
AUGUST 13, 1838, 

PL. 49. 
BORN AT CHELMSFORD, MASS. 



HONORED AS A MAN, 

DISTINGUISHED AS AN ANTIQUARIAN AND SCHOLAR, 

BELOVED AS A FRIEND, 

AND REVERED AS A CHRISTIAN PHILANTHROPIST 

AND LOVER OF IMPARTIAL LIBERTY, 

HIS DEATH HAS OCCASIONED A VOID IN SOCIETY 

WHICH TIME WILL FAIL TO SUPPLY; 

AND THE REASON AND FITNESS OF WHICH, 

AS TO TIME, MANNER, AND ATTENDANT CIRCUMSTANCES, 

ETERNITY ALONE CAN UNFOLD. 



134 MEMOIR OF JOHN FARMER. 

As another evidence of the esteem in which he was 
held by his friend Gen. Low, there is on the children's 
side of the monument the inscription, — 



JOHN FARMER, 

Died June 26, 1828, 

/E. 8 Mos. 



This being a child named John Farmer Low. 

Dr. Farmer had seen but little more than forty-nine 
years of life. Many hearts were made sorrowful by 
the announcement that he was no more ; while it is 
almost an impropriety to say that he was no more, 
for in his works, and in the hearts of multitudes, he 
still lives, and seems to be even more than when he 
was with us in the body. And eyes which have never 
yet seen the light will bear testimony to the greatness 
of the benefits he bestowed upon his country and the 
world. 

I am aware of the incompleteness of this memorial. 
It is the testimony of a single individual only, and 
one who saw this noble man but a small part of his 
time. How voluminous and grand would be the ac- 
count of him that might be written by one who had 
watched him through all the busy and fruitful years of 
his life ! How bright the light that would shine from 
the pages ! How instructive the incidents, the anec- 
dotes, the expressions of wisdom, that fell from his lips ! 



XVI. 

SURVEY OF FORMER SCENES. 

^fcrr^N the summer of 1882, when my dear old 
friend had been dead forty-four years, with 
the saddest of pleasure I visited the scenes 
which were best fitted to make me feel myself once 
more in his presence. The store, in the second story 
of which he passed the first years of his life in Con- 
cord, was gone, leaving no marks to show precisely 
where it stood. Gen. Low's house, likewise, had dis- 
appeared before the encroachments of modern busi- 
ness and wealth. 

The Breed house I found in a good state of preser- 
vation, but not with its old-time appearance. It had 
obeyed the order to turn its face from the street, to 
step to the rear, and to become a mere annex of a 
more sumptuous edifice. But I was politely permitted 
to enter. There was the same room of former times, 
and yet it was not the same. A door had been sub- 
stituted for the window through which the doctor had 



136 MEMOIR OF JOHN FARMER, 

hundreds of times looked out upon the people, and 
the church and its clock ; the homelike fireplace had 
been bricked up ; and other changes had been made, 
so as to render it impossible even for the imagination 
to make it seem like the temple where, fifty years 
ago, the prophet of history gave forth his oracles. 
Scarcely could I feel that he was there. 

At the former residence of the Misses McClary, my 
visit was more satisfactory. The room where the 
doctor wrote and read and slept, and held unheralded 
receptions, was thrown open to me. It remained 
almost wholly unchanged. Having passed its modest 
door, I stood for a moment as if my feet were fastened 
to the floor. My thoughts were transported back to 
the days of long, long ago. The very same, I said : 
there stood his bed, there his stove, there his case 
of drawers, there his book-shelves, there his table and 
desk, there the chair in which he sat. Whether I 
had gone to meet him, or he had come to meet me, 
I could scarcely tell. It seemed as if we met in a 
prolonged and affectionate embrace. My heart per- 
sistently lingered in the place made sacred by so many 
sweet and tender associations. 

Also I walked the distance of two miles to the 
place where the doctor performed his last work, and 
where he died. There again I was entranced. The 
lady I met with (Mrs. Frye) was a granddaughter. 



SURVEY OF FORMER SCENES. 



137 



of Mrs. Clark, with whom Dr. Farmer was a boarder. 
In full sympathy with the object of my visit, and from 
her own recollection, she pointed out the portions of 
the room which were occupied by the various articles 
of the good man's furniture, with the window out- 
side of which he hung his thermometer, not omitting 
to mention, what affected me most, where stood his 
dying-bed. 

She also conducted me to the upper part of the 
house, where were stored away many little things 
adapted to awaken sad memories of my departed 
friend. There was the light desk which he appears 
to have procured in his later days, — a mere tablet at- 
tached to an upright shaft, and intended to be raised 
or lowered at pleasure, and to appearance a very un- 
comfortable substitute for a table. There were many 
specimens of his handwriting, and among them the 
original manuscript of his " History of Amherst ; " 
together with a great number of old letters, almanacs, 
etc., upon every one of which he had doubtless placed 
a high value. 

Nor could I omit visiting his grave. Here I stood 
in silence, I know not how long. Again and again I 
read the inscription placed over his mouldering dust 
by loving friends ; and, as I read, my eyes were blinded 
with tears. Memory never did a more faithful work 
than then. It was a grand life that loomed up before 



138 MEMOIR OF JOHN FARMER. 

me in that hour, but it was a bitter thought that that 
life came to an end so soon. With an awe-stricken 
heart, I walked slowly away, through the gate of the 
city of the dead, out into the living world again. 



